BRILLIANT!!!
 

The stairs are by Unicraft Joinery, Hamilton, Victoria here in Australia. No website unfortunately. Love the little drawer pulls too.
 

I just love multifuctional things!
 

This is extremely cool--one of those things that seems so obvious after you've seen it. If only I had stairs in my house!
 

awesome
 

i love it! now, to have enough shoes to fill all the drawers in the staircase ;)
 

wow! ridiculously good idea...
 

Oh my! That has to be one of the best t hings I've seen yet!
thanks!
 

what a GREAT idea! some rental space should consider this.
 

D A N G E R O U S ! ! ! !
 

Its very dumb. Like a kid leaving their roller skates on the stairs.
 

Yes, going down these at night is like playing russian roulette - will it be this step or the next on which breaks my neck?
 

Hey, not all of us have moron kids that leave things open. Many of us don't have kids, and we know how to close a cabinet. :-)

This is a great idea for those that are limited on space. These probably aren't meant for everyday items either, so you probably wouldn't be opening them all the time.
 

Perhaps the drawer's could be fitted with the following to extras:

1. Some sort of "magnetic latch" that keeps the drawer closed or from accidentally opening up. Similar to a cabinet on a work desk.

2. Or perhaps a small-ish spring to pull the drawer back in automatically to make sure it doesn't stay open accidentally.
 

People crying Danger: note the lights along the wall.
 

Are they sealed on the other side? The bottom of the stairs in my house is in the basement and it gets pretty cold down there in the winter. Wouldn't that cold air make it through the cracks?
 

Looks cool, but not necessarily applicable to all staircases. Usually staircases are located one on top of the other. I would worry that when climbing a lower set of stairs you'd hit your head on the back of the drawers above. Of course, for the bottom stairs of a house this would work fine.
 

Where does the support come from?
 

"Where does the support come from? "

Gotta ask that myself!!!
 

These are probably inspired by the stairs that are located in almost every closed-hull sailboat! Though those designs (mostly) tend to open by lifting the stair, which is hinged. This helps to avoid the most of the problems you could imagine with "leaving it open." Great idea finally coming to my FIRST home :)
 

Not for me. I'd leave a drawer ajar one time, step in and break my neck.
 

How many centuries did it take for this to come out - Brilliant!
 

Look a little closer...it appears as if the bottom 2 stairs are the only ones that are drawers. The rest do not have the frame on the sides or the latch that is visible on the bottom 2. I am certain that due to the possibly danger involved in using these, safety was a major consideration and there are features to insure no one breaks their neck.
 

Traditional Japanese kaidan-dansu also turn stairs into storage, but the drawers open from the side. I've always wanted one of those in my house.
 

Having the steps slide open like this also makes them gradual collectors of whatever shoe-dirt falls into the drawer.

I think this and the safety concerns mentioned above are why we haven't seen this design in common use.
 

Love it, I've linked the blog at inspiredbye.wordpress.com
 

http://www.canadianhomeworkshop.com/weekend/risers.shtml
 

We had our own staircase built to a similar design. There is no safety issue. We have two kids (8 and 5) and the drawers are never left open. You can see pics here:

http://meandmybigmouth.typepad.com/scottpack/2007/02/books_do_furnis_3.html
 

Sent this to a contractor friend of mine. He said looks great but probably not code compliant. Anyone know?
 

If you turn on the lights and look at were your stepping you shouldn't have any problems. Neck Break free.
-peace and love everyone-
 

I haven't read all the comments so someone might have mentioned this already.

The drawers could be opened by pushing them in half an inch. Then closed by just pushing them back into a magnet.

I think I would have hurt my toes plenty with that small pull.

I would also put a small light in each of them, from the top, not in the actual drawer but down into it. Only on when the drawer is open.
 

It's the perfect home for your Slinky collection!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slinky
 

How about lidded (and sprung) chests rather than pull-out drawers? That would make it easier not to leave them open.
 

It's a Kaidan-dansu (stair tansu).
 

We welcome all comments pro and con but can't stand spam, the spiced ham or the unsolicited crap :), so a comment was just deleted from this post.
 

My guess is you'll have creaking staircase not before long.So no late night tip toeing after a late night out.
 

I build stairs and steps (steps are outside). They are the most dangerous part of the house, and should be designed with that in mind. If these stairs don't have some automatic method of closing, then it's inevitable one will be left open and an accident will happen.
Yes, it's a cool idea, but cool and safety don't always go together. -- Nehmo
 

instead of a drawer, maybe the use of layered slide door (Something like a door built with numbers of vertical sticks) which slided into the side will help reduce the hazardous issue
 

What hazard issue? They use self-closing sliders. If you turn lose, they pull back in.

Tada!
 

We have them on the bottom 2 steps going from our garage into the house. Great for putting our shoes into instead of always leaving them on the landing going into the house. You just learn to close the drawer the same as you learn to close doors.
 

No way this would pass local building code.