Stairs into kitchen

I’ve talked about my kitchen stairs before but we pulled down the ugly old banister when we re-did the floors so I’ve really started trying to figure out what we’re going to do.

I’m pretty set on wood treads, wood railing, and white spindles. Something like this from Better Homes and Gardens

There is a deep shelf that reaches under those stairs from the basement. It’s the perfect litter-box perch. It’s about waist high from the stair landing for easy clean-up and is out of the way for guests, smells, etc.

You can see the back of the plaster and lath from the kitchen side now that that wall has been removed.

We are going to do wainscoting around the kitchen so that will cover the side of the staircase. I would like to have a little cat-door peaking out from under the staircase to allow kitty access to the litter-box. My initial idea was to put a cat door in the basement door but I don’t love the idea of cutting into my doors. A little cat-door in the wall next to the stairs is perfect.

I have a couple ideas.

I love the idea of a cat-shaped hole but I don’t think I want a hole that large though it would be very cute.  Here is a smaller cat-silhouette.

I could also just paint a cat silhouette on the wall and have a smaller hole in it.

There is also a small triangle of space under those stairs that isn’t being used. It is a dead space that hasn’t been cleaned in 100 years and is a bit of a mess. I’ll have Stefan clean that out and then I can either wall it up for another 100 years or I can do something functional. I love this concept:

There is also the stair treads themselves.

I’m not sure how much these would be used though. Also, what would I put in them? Canned goods come to mind as does shoes/scarves/gloves etc. They would also make good kid storage areas for toys etc. I really just think they are super cool but I’m not sure if it’s genuinely worth the effort. Part of me thinks that while we are replacing the treads, we might as well and part of me things it’s just a silly love of secret compartments.

What do you think? Cat passage and stair storage? Any other great ideas.

Sarah