I have built a stair at maximum riser height and minimum tread depth in order to fit it in available space. I didn't mind the steepness.

Try out existing stair in houses of people you know (and people you don't know if you are brave) and measure them (the stairs).

Thanks! I have measured a few friends and seems like 7/11 is the standard. It’s a tough call because it is also costing us 10ft ceilings in the kitchen and the coat closet to build it so might just scrap the idea

What’s wrong with a 10ft ceiling? Even 9 is totally fine

@WestCoast Hopeful We want a 10 foot ceiling, but if we keep the attic we have to keep 8ft ceilings. These would be fine but the great room has 9-17ft vaulted ceiling leading to the kitchen so the 8ft ceiling feels really low.

How you come to a 7" rise or 8" rise... what is the total rise,i.e bottom floor to the top of the top floor?

That said to have a comfortable stair you have to use the rule of thumb, rise+run should be anywhere between 17-18" or (2 X rise) + run should = 25".

The most common comfortable staircase is 7 1/2" riser and 10" run.

I am confused how did you renovate an attic without planning the access to the space .

@Patricia Colwell Consulting the attic was made into a work place by prior owner. It has a pull down ladder. I’m doing a complete renovation so I would add a permanent staircase if I were to truly convert the space. I have a design destroying that space to gain 10 foot ceilings in the kitchen but contractor was mentioning i could instead renovate it. Ceilings would be 7ft4in, 12x25, the stairs would go through the pantry so the shorter they are the better to get upstairs quickly. Given the difficulty though we may just stick to higher kitchen ceilings and bigger pantry and scrap the attic

I have found, the more storage, the more you store! Do you really this this as extra storage?

I agree that you want the higher ceiling in the kitchen since it segues from the vaulted great room.

@Quercus Virginiana yes I have an engineer and since we are doing the whole house it actually won’t take much to convert other Than larger floor joist we are already reinforcing foundation. My question was more if it will be comfortable steeper steps to save my pantry

@eld6161 it would be more an office space or bonus room with city views but I think with the 7ish foot ceilings it might not be as great as I imagine and sacrificing kitchen being perfect might be too high a price. Thanks for the input!

7'4 rise you will have 12 risers @ 7 1/2" and 10 threads and you will need 9'2 run for the stairway.

Steeper stairs are fine. People lived hundreds of years with steep stairs. Just make sure you have good hand railings, and use them.

Agreed! Especially for a bonus type space

Our front stairs are about that. Definitely steep. (Although the shallowest set in my house). My mother has difficulty with them. The foot definitely does not fully fit on the stairs and we are constantly reminding the preschool/early elementary grand girls to be careful on the stairs. We do occasionally catch. The heel of our foot on the carpet tack strip for the stair runner (ouch!) I like 7/11 or 8/10 much more.

If you converting your attic to a habitable space you will have to meet building code requirements and if you plan to have there a bedroom you have to meet egress requirements.

That said if you trying to make part of your attic to act as a "loft bed" in that case you can use a regular ladder if you want.

Your best bet is to visit your building department and show them what you trying to do and they will tell you exactly what needs to be done, and if you doing that without permits, you can do whatever you want but I wouldn't recommend that, because that could be an issue during the sale of your home down the road or most importantly someone getting hurt.

You will need to make sure the stairs meet code IMO. I would seriously think about this space as living space and save the money for something else that would IMO add value to the home . I think by the time you bring that space up to code you would have been better off adding an addition if you need this extra space. Where I live if you start messing with an attic then all that spaces needs to be to code.

Didn’t the OP say the space is already converted? They are just wanting to add stairs?

@WestCoast Hopeful correct I’m not worried about code given it’s also all engineered and ceiling below is being replaced and cost is the same to have it finished other than paying for flooring

Steep stairs are often problematic (and even dangerous) to older individuals. How long do you plan to live in this house?

If it was my house I would do nothing to cause a room's ceiling to be below a minimum of 8'-0".

@Virgil Carter Fine Art it was going to make the kitchen 8ft inatead of 10. the bonus area would be lower but it was “free space” but i think after everyone’s input we will just keep 10ft ceilings in the kitchen and call it a day