What do I do with a Lazy Susan?

[JoyNChrist]

Got this for Christmas from a relative. It's actually really cute (matches my kitchen), but when I opened it I had no idea what it was. I was told it's a "lazy susan"...it's like a round-ish tray thing that spins. Any idea what I'm supposed to do with it?

[AngelaS]

My parents have one in the middle of their kitchen table w/napkins, salt and pepper and honey on it.

Mom had a big one she put all the taco fixin's on for taco night.

She also had one in the spice cupboard to make finding everything easier.

It'd be handy on a table when playing Uno Attack too. :D

[elizabethkott]

I was going to say get her a Peppy Mary as a friend, and then realized that my jokes are horribly lame when I haven't had my full cup of coffee yet. :)
My mom always put spices on it in the cupboard too... my grandmother uses hers for her myriad of pill bottles.
Not that Avery is at this point yet, but one could come in useful in a playroom in the future for art supplies, crayons, markers, etc.

[ThreeofUs]

Oh, for a nice Lazy Susan! Use it in corners - cabinets, counter - for more accessible space. Use it on tables for crafts, flower arrangements, or just your morning jam selection.

The trick is to find the place where it's actually useful; otherwise LS's are just another piece of clutter, kwim?

[scoop22]

we got one for our wedding and i hate to get rid of it b/c it was handmade by someone in the family. we tried placing it in the middle of the table. i don't suggest that with kids. ds loves it! we have it on our counter with napkins bananas and some snacks on it. i didn't know what to do with it either so don't feel bad!

[NewMom2007]

Growing up we had a large round dinner table (10 of us sat around that!) and a homemade wooden lazy susan in the middle...oh, how I wish my oldest brother would make one for me in shop class :)

We put our food on it and just rotated it to fill our plates - rather than pass everything among 8 kids....if I had one today, I would use it in a corner cabinet to maximize space - put coffee mugs on it so I didn't have to reach all the way back in the corner cabinet.

[brittone2]

As the PPs said, depending on the size you might want it for a pantry, table, or a cabinet. I keep considering getting one and gluing containers to it for art supplies. Family fun or one of those magazines/sites had something like that in the past one time (small terra cotta flower pots or something like that if I remember right).

[Marisa6826]

It's also good if you happen to decorate cakes. ;)

-m

[ellies mom]

We saw a doll house attached to one in the play area of a local store. DH thought it was pretty cool.

[lizajane]

go 'round and 'round and 'round?

but seriously. put your spices or other small items that clutter up your cabinet on it and then you can just spin to find the item you need instead of searching through all the little stuff that hides all the other little stuff.

[kijip]

We have way too many of the gizmos built into our kitchen in the corner cabinets. I am not a fan, but the best way to utilize them has been to put jars of dry goods on them. I am a dork and the spots for the jars on the lazy susan are labeled (sticky rice, brown rice, red lentils etc) I would do the same for spices if there was a smaller one to use.

[tarabenet]

You're not a quilter or papercrafter, are you? Quilters use them with a small self-healing mat for squaring up blocks and such. Scrapbookers and other crafters could do somethig similar. Serious cake decorators, too. You know: all those fun-but-who-has-the-time?-kind of stuff. Also handy for game night! Put the game board up there (especially Scrabble) so each player can see things right-side-up on her turn.

[s7714]

I have two. One sits in the middle of our round dining table, which we keep the salt and pepper grinders, napkins, etc. on so that everyone can reach them. The other sits in a dead space corner of my kitchen counter and I keep my flour, sugar and cookie jar on it. It makes it easier to grab any of those three items without having to reach all the way back into the corner and rearrange things.

Ditto a PPs mentions of using them for cake decorating, game playing, as well.

[hellokitty]

I have two of these, one is a big one that no longer works out for us, b/c we now have a rectangular table, and it's not big enough to accommodate the size we have.

I bought the other lazy susan at target, it's a smaller one, I keep it on the counter next to my stove and keep a bunch of different cooking oils and sauces on it that I frequently use when I cook. I love it, b/c it's convenient AND, b/c sometimes the oil bottles get gross at the bottom, so it's easier to clean it all up on the lazy susan than worry about messing up the counter. The only thing that ticks me off is I had my slow cooker on the same counter and it must have warped the lazy susan a little bit (it's a plastic one)! I was really happy though that it was so easy to find, I thought for sure I would have to search high and low for a small lazy susan for the purpose that I use it for.

[floridamommy]

I actually bought one to put a tv and dvd/vcr combo on that sits on an island in the kitchen that opens to another room. This tv services the next room where a home office/kids play area is, but when I am working in the kitchen by myself I sometimes like to have the tv on. I was constantly having to totally turn the tv & dvd around to face the outer room or back to face the kitchen. I put both on a lazy susan and now I can easily swivel the set to face either room. Works like a champ.