I saw a great idea for putting it in a niche on one side of an island, standing folded between two banks of lower cabinet boxes. Also consider next to lazy susan, if stool's short enough--can consolidate the door to make a more efficient use of the cupboard space. Unfortunately, both of these ideas require planning when designing the cabinets.

(I'm like you--no built-in space was planned. The stool will have to go into the walk-in pantry. My old cabinets extended to the ceiling and I used the stool a lot--stored it in the space between the refrig and the adjacent wall. It seemed to walk into the garage quite a bit, where I'd have to accost it and tow it back home. Now the old stool is paint spattered and ready to live in the garage full time--and I can buy a new, glam one for the new ceiling ht cupboard kitchen.)

Do you have any narrow or shallow "dead space?" We had a ~6" deep space along one side of our island (space behind the drawer bank on the opposite side). Our KD asked if we wanted doors (instead of the solid panel that had been planned) in order to access that space. Of course we said yes--found space, is found space!

Voila! We have a place to store our step stool (the W-S Ultra Slim 2-step stool), and a dust pan and brush, too!

Sometimes people will have enough room between two normal-size cabs for a deep, yet narrow slot or cab (instead of using a filler, for ex.). Even if your order has been placed, it should be easy enough to add one or two doors to the order.

IÂm 5Â7" Â 5Â8 or taller with shoes on which is most of the time IÂm in the kitchen, and I use a step stool a *lot*. For me, I would not be happy having to always pull one out and put it away every time I needed it. In fact, IÂm thinking of getting another one since I use mine in the kitchen, the pantry and the laundry room.

I use a Library Kick Stool which works great and looks nice.

Ours is going to slide in along one side of our refrigerator cabinet, where we have an extra 3" in the opening. We may design a cover panel for it, but honestly I don't even think that will be worth the added cost---I don't mind looking at it! This is another storage place that might need to be planned in advance, though. I like the toekick idea a lot, though, if you can retrofit that. Both Crate & Barrel and Williams-Sonoma (and I'm sure a bunch of other places) sell super-thin step stools that are high enough to reach high uppers in most kitchens.

We raised the lowest rollout off the bottom of our pantry and put the williams sonoma stepstool under it. I am not too tall so I need a tall stool.

FWIW, we cut a few inches off the legs so the stool would fit in the cabinet (DH popped off the plastic or rubber feet, cut the legs with a hacksaw, and pooped the feet back on).

I am 5'1" as well. I use my step stool several times a day and wanted to be able to grab it without first having to open a door or drawer. I purposely left a space between the door and the frig enclosure for it. When it comes time to prettify for company, I'll put it in the hall closet.

I am always so amazed at the creativity of people on this site. I am also beginning to worry that I did not spend enough time thinking out my layout, even though we worked on it for 5 months. Unfortunately I didn't find out about this forum until it was too late. What an invaluable source! Niffy, how many steps does your stool contain? I am really loving your idea and I think it might just work in my kitchen. My other alternative is to contact my KD, currently on vacation, and check to see if I have any filler space that can be utilized.

Niffy, Such a clever idea. Wish I had seen your picture sooner. Though my pantry pullouts have already been installed, maybe it's not too late to make an adjustment. I originally planned on stepstool storage like catmom in the side of my peninsula. Scrapped that in favor of using that space for shelves to store food wraps, plastic storage bags, etc. My step stool storage is now planned for the laundry room which is not far away but not as handy as yours!

BTW--DH POPPED the feet back, he did not "poop" them!!!! This is what I get for failing to proof-read my posts before hitting submit (time and time again)!

We did the same as niffy, with a 2-step stool from Crate and Barrel. It fits inside the 24 inch pantry cabinet without any modifications.

Here is a link that might be useful: here's the stepstool

Our stool is a two step. I think Williams Sonoma also makes a 3 step version, but this one is quite tall and more than suffices. There is 34" of space for it, about 2" high. Works great. I think my builder and KD brainstormed that one after I nagged them to death about needing a special spot for the thing!

Thanks for the laugh cat mom...too cute!!!