The OP's next response said this, which introduced the topic of light to her original question: "The reason I wanted to go with the open staircase is that it is U-shaped and located in the corner of the structure. It has landings that are bumped out from the structure with windows. I was hoping the open risers would help bing light in to the basement..." I did not say the forum should be a place to congratulate each other on home design and avoid critical design issues. I have no problem with your statements about the codes applicable to winder stairs and your suggestion for the grab bar, which we already have and is a good suggestion. But my stairs are already built and not going to be changed and no one responding to the thread even suggested that they were thinking about building winder stairs, so it served no constructive purpose for you and Sue to go beyond the code issues and give your personal opinions on my stairs other than to make me, the home owner who was criticized for building the winder stairs, to regret posting a picture on this forum, and doing things that discourage homeowners from posting picgtures of their already built/can't be changed homes is not good for the forum, IMO. I did measure the depth of our treads at the wind, and the minimum depth at the wind (at the wall) is 4-1/2", so our code is probably like the code in your area.

Definitely open the staircase. I can't see any argument for a dark, closed-in stair -- not while an open space is an option. The mostly-white living room picture is lovely. In looking at your plan, I see a couple things I'd want to tweak: - The refrigerator is too far from the main work area. I'd bring it to the end of that long line of cabinets, and I'd move a couple cabinets over where the 'fridge is now. This would give you a place to have the coffee pot, a cake or a plate of fruit, and so forth sitting out ... but also out of the way. - I don't care for the island's weird shape, and I don't see any reason to have an (expensive) prep sink right there at the end of the island when the main sink is literally within reach. - Two doors in your study are eating up lots of space and will impede furniture placement. I'd keep the one that opens into the foyer (because that'd be more quiet) and lose the other one.

Greg_R, This free spanning staircase is much narrower than my other set of stairs, so these are the stairs that were ordered for this location. I've been staring at those staircases for the past few days. My conclusion at this point is that this is the way this installer has been building his staircases (supposedly for the past 60 years that they claim to be in business)--VERY SHODDILY. Structurally this staircase is very unsound. There is no support at all under the stringer at the lower end. At the upper end, the stringer has no ledger behind the stringer to brace it. And the stringer is inadequate with no throat at all on the wall side. I began looking at staircase building websites and technical specs from boise cascade and trus-joist and my staircases don't resemble the general design theme at all. When we first complained, the staircase installer stopped by, gave me an attitude, shimmed a bit at the upper end and ignored us after that. He only responded after receiving our structural engineer's report about faulty design/installation. They continued to suggest using two L-shaped metal braces bolted to the walls running across the staircase and bolted to the free-span stringer. Our engineer said that will not work. So the installer said that they will do whatever the engineer designs. There are way too many problems with that set of stairs that I feel that they should be redesigned correctly instead of applying band-aids to it. I will post more pictures this evening and an update when the situation changes. Thank you.

Just some thoughts: Version 2 or 4 will give you a better wall for furniture placement. Version 4 gives you a lot more private entrance to the master bedroom. If you like Cpartist's idea to put the fireplace in between the front windows you could have an interesting looking chimney on the front of the house (like a craftsman home). If you go with 2 or 4 and don't need a solid wall for furniture, you could also do some type of open stair design to the living room with a fancy handrail and have a more open design. Designing a house is stressful isn't it? And especially posting on a forum like this, you tend to second guess everything. I know when I posted my plans, everyone had ideas that were very specific to their personal situation and tastes and they didn't quite consider the info that I had given. I also felt that quite a few of the posts were a little mean-spirited. However, I did get two great ideas that I used and I decided to not settle for the so-so design of my master bath and I fixed it. Just go with your gut about what will work for you and your family, keep and open mind to other's ideas, keep trying different things and you will get there. Just look how much better your upstairs works compared to your original plan - you did a great job with that :-)