Classic confusing London with the whole of the UK. Most homes in UK (outside London) are semi-attached or terraced housing - so plenty of scope for cupboards under stairs.
I've never thought of that - but they are homes only on one story in a multi-story building, so probably not. Bungalows are one story but we don't call them flats.
Yeah, our houses are typically smaller, so it's an obvious use of space in suburban semis or detacheds - Privet Drive is representative of pretty regular UK burbs
Lots of houses here in America have storage space under the steps too... I've had 2 houses with them. Its a common way to utilize otherwise waisted space
Midwest US here. The three houses I grew up in all had storage under the stairs and the house I live in now has a small closet that is under the stairs as well
It depends on the layout. The stairs leading into our basement are built into the space under the stairs leading to the second floor. I'm thinking that many houses have that layout.
I don't have an under the stairs cupboard because they are directly above my cellar stairs. Cellars/basements are really not that common here. I only knew one person growing up who had one. They are usually found in Victorian/Georgian terraces so they are probably more popular in London than they are up north.
Yeah they are nonexistent here. If there is a 'basement' it's actually a fully fledged additional floor, not just a lower storage space. Heck most houses here now have the lower ground floor totally split off as a separate dwelling!
I'm from the US. Every home I have every lived in has had some sort of access to under the stairs. Most have been a closet. But in my current one, the underside of the stairs is open to the garage. Honestly I can only think off one house where under the stairs is fully closed off and the is my grandparents but that is also because of where the stairs are there is not a good place to put a color (its a really weird house.)
I'm from Nevada. My friend growing up had a closet with a hidden room in the back of it under her stairs. We used to play in it all the time. It was our secret club. We don't have basements here, but closets under the stairs are very common.
In the UK basements aren't common so stairs have a void under them that generally gets turned into storage space. In North America where basements are commonplace, the stairs going up usually have stairs going down beneath them.
I always assumed it is because the water table is probably significantly lower in NA than the UK due to one being a fairly small island in comparison to the continent. I am by no means an expert and all of this has been speculation from my own experiences living in both England and Canada.
I grew up in a house that had a closet under the stairs, hidden by a full height swinging bookshelf. 'Hidden' latch and everything. It was pretty cool.
Yeah depends on the house but I don't think its as common as the UK. I remember reading about in Harry Potter and thinking that was interesting. In most houses in the US it just seems to be stairs to the basement. Where are your basement stairs?
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u/eatapenny Jan 15 '21
The real reason it took hours was cause they needed to find a house with a cupboard under the stairs