I love this solution from a design perspective, but not from a practical one. Who wants sand and dust from shoes and feet cascading onto a kitchen counter below?

A stair that is also a countertop doesn't seem the most hygenic or practical solution.

I agree with bridmw. It looks like the chances of crud coming from your shoes and into the food prep area are high with the counter and the stair becoming one surface, but even moreso when there are floating steps directly ABOVE the food prep area as well.

I agree with the other comments. This is not the greatest idea. Who wants to walk on their kitchen counters.
Also, we have an open stair in our house and everything falls down to the first floor (luckily it's not perched over any food prep areas).

Plus, what if you're upstairs and someone else has moved the bottom stair/cabinet unit? Do you jump down?

Clever but so not practical. I would not want people walking above and on where I prepare food. Plus I cannot imagine that stairs on wheels like that would be up to code.

Agree with all the comments. Shoe debris kitchen counter = does not compute.

Coming soon, the toilet - slash - drinking fountain

i think the stair-countertop on its own as a moveable/wheely unit has potention but definitely not in conjunction with the upperstaircase- well not from a practical point of view, anyway.

Not safe (stairs on wheels!?), not practical (gross, actually), cute idea (for a DOLL HOUSE ONLY!)

I completely agree that it wouldn't be sanitary. I don't allow shoes in my home but still it wouldn't be sanitary especially that it's feet! ewww sorry but I hate feet. I could say that I'd be more concerned that it looks slippery. One more thing though the person who came up with this idea is pretty creative and I'm sure did think about everything everyone is pointing out.

In addition to the points other's have mentioned, this is the stairway between the *kitchen* and the *playroom*.

Raise your hand if you've ever seen a kid step in something gross, but then just keep going.

Raise your hand if you've ever seen a kid tear down the stairs full-speed without watching where they're going.

That would be fun to explain at the ER-- Well, Dr, I forgot to put the stairs back before calling the kids to dinner, and the darn kids never watch where they're going so...

Running down stairs wheels of stair/counter being unlocked = bad.

Was supposed to be a " " between stairs and wheels...

greeps, your comment made me lol!

I have been thinking about using something similar to this in a houseboat that I'm looking at buying. It is not ideal because of the sanitary issues, but when space is at a premium it might be ok in a shoe-free household. The particular instance I am thinking of currently has a ladder from the kitchen (right next to the stove) to the guest bedroom/office and I though I would change it to three steps w/pull out storage a ladder that pulls down from the ceiling. I would put non-food items like trash and recycling bins in the pull out storage. Does my idea sound too gross for you folks too?

Ewwww. While very pretty it doesn't make for a very hygienic kitchen surface. Even in a shoe-free household (like ours) feet are dirty and should not be on counter tops. Strike out!

Interesting looking but horrible when it comes to practicality.
Which = Bad Design

Agree with the other posters that walking above and on a counter surface with open risers is just plain bad design.

PLUS this wouldn't meet building code anywhere in the US.

A stair that isn't a stair, and thus able to provide safe egress, 100% of the time = NOT TO CODE.

A stair with handrails that don't continue the full length of the stair = NOT TO CODE.

A stair (to a playroom no less) with handrails and supports with gaps so big between them that a child (or anyone else for that matter) could easily fall through and the 8 feet to the floor = NOT TO CODE

Quite simply bad, bad, BAD design

Well I for one love it. I love the way it's in keeping with the theme of the residence, vertical/horizontal planes signifying movement from one zone to another hybridizing functions as they go.

I suppose food could be served/prepared in the other 75% of the kitchen that is under the 2nd floor or off where the oven is (or maybe in that dining room seen far off behind the kitchen). The part just under the stairs is left empty to accentuate the line...and let's face it, no one's going to use the detachable section to eat off and it's most likely where all the random "junk drawer" items go.

Of course if you take your shoes off when entering the house, problem solved!

Design excess. Trying waaaay to hard to be clever and interesting. One idea/concept to build around is all you need--it's often a sign of a very young, very greenhorn designer when a project has had fifty unique, breakthrough ideas crammed into it.

This is in Manhattan. How in the holy hell did they ever get a certificate of occupancy with a setup like that? The answer can only be that they didn't. Possibly they did whatever they needed to do to pacify the building inspectors, then tore it out and surreptitiously replaced it with what we see here.

It's a tansu. Nothing new.

toilet slash drinking fountain has already been done i think.

it just grosses me out that people who don't take their shoes off will leave whatever the heck they've walking in and through over my kitchen. AND it's NOT a small space solution because obviously the bench space under the stairs is completely unusable!

love it.

So coo!!!

@ K T G: "Toe nuggets" hahahhahahahaaaaa

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@ Daily Nuance, Thank you for bringing up code so I didn't have to this time. ;-)

The stairs not only go up to the children's play area, but also to the ROOFTOP GARDEN.

Hello? DIRT ANYONE?

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Featuring this kind of obviously illegal design is irresponsible.

Never, ever does illegal design equal cool.

@ TRUE BLUE: Agreed on illegal (non-code compliant) design equalling non-cool.

Coming up with an awesome LOOKING design with no design constraints (building codes, etc.) isn't so difficult or impressive.

However, coming up with an awesome design while also meeting all of the building codes, zoning requirements, fire regulations, etc. (especially beause all those typically have an intrinsic nature of handicapping good design) is a real feat. It's only when a design accomplishes this that I find it to be exemplary.

@ Daily Nuance:

I think that is almost exactly what I said about the Ling Bed of Death loft.

Sure, it would be fun to have a Swiss Family Robinson or one of many "stranded on an island" tree forts where you had to swing across a chasm to reach the other rooms...but it's not legal. It's not safe.

I was quite enchanted with the small homes that are also ADA compliant here:
http://www.kephartliving.com/Browse.aspx

I realize they don't have a waterfall. Or moving stairs. But when you look at those homes, you see realistic living spaces, even in the tiny ones. Because they HAVE to be realistic if they are to allow a wheelchair or walker.

They DO include a place for a washer and dryer, unlike those WeeHouses.

And yes, they DO provide for ELEVATORS! In all the two-story designs, there's a space for an elevator.

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@ Greeps, this one is for you:
http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/tubs-toilets-showers-sinks/toilet-lid-sink-007768

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Hmmm, I think you're on to something: a whole new genre of design. Legal Design: Do it by the books and don't even try anything else!