Staircase position - Advice

5 years ago

Staircase to basement opens up from kitchen and it takes up bulk of the space in kitchen. Behind the staircase is a closet which opens up to living room. In order to increasing the kitchen we are hoping to move the opening to closet in living room and open up kitchen. Is this is a big change? Also will it give more space for kitchen?

Featured Answer

Lyndee Lee

5 years ago

Lots of money and effort for very little gain. I would suggest shallow storage along the staircase wall. Cabinets 12 to 15 inches deep, floor to ceiling would add lots of convenient storage. You could also do base and wall cabinets and have a long stretch of countertop which is great for serving buffet style meals.
Depending on the mechanicals, you could move the opening closer to the fridge and close up by the staircase wall so cabinets could extend the entire length of staircase. If you do not have a two story, the space at the top of the stairway is usable for recessed storage. One homeowner I know was able to increase her tiny kitchen by switching to a cooktop and recessing a wall oven over the basement stairs. You could also build deep pullouts to make use of the space.

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Comments (8)

User
5 years ago
Forget touching stairs until you get to your 10th house and can easily afford the 50K+ re-engineering all the support for the home.
PRO
Joseph Corlett, LLC
5 years ago
You could bump out the exterior kitchen wall much less expensively than altering the stairs.
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PRO
BeverlyFLADeziner
5 years ago
No matter which way the stairs open, they will still take up the same amount of space, so there will not be more than 2' gained for the kitchen provided this revision can even be accomplished.
emilyam819
5 years ago
It doesn’t even look like you would gain anything in the kitchen by moving the stairs. What would you want to put there?
littlebug zone 5 Missouri
5 years ago
last modified: 5 years ago
Almost no space gain whatsoever. Maybe a foot or two.

You still have to have enough area cut out of the floor to allow room for the stairs and for a normal-height person to use the stairs while standing up.
calidesign
5 years ago
Maybe you could turn the stairway wall into a half wall, so it would feel less closed in, with the illusion of more space.
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Original Author
5 years ago
Good idea. Looks like touching staircase is not an easy job. small gain by spending a lot.