Relationships involve a lot of compromise and communication, and while the common arguments like whose turn it is to load the dishwasher, or who left a wet towel on the bed are pretty standard stuff (and often easily resolved) there are some differences that talking won't sort out.  We're talking about height differences.

Mila Kunis and Ashton Kutcher are a celebrity couple with a significant height difference; she is 5'4” and he is 6”3”.  This means that the couple have almost a full foot of difference between their eye-line and what they can reach.  A mirror hung for Kutcher to check his hair in would be totally unusable for Kunis, who could probably only see the top of her head.  Kitchen cupboards, shelves and other fixtures and fittings installed at the correct height for one of them will be far too tall for the other.  Kunis says their home is designed around the 6”3” height and consequently she struggles to reach common areas like a wall-mounted bathroom cupboard or the upper shelves of a bookcase.

The solution to this problem was for Kunis to keep step ladders all around the house, so she has one to hand whenever and wherever she needs one, which is nearly every room in the home!  As part of a celebrity couple Kutcher may be away for work and not present to help his wife reach the shelves and cupboards she can't, so having a set of steps easily available is the best solution for the pair – there's even a stepladder in the couple's walk-in wardrobe.

The couple didn't reveal which brand of step ladder they have opted for, but we think the two or three-tread folding step stools we stock are ideally suited to this use.  The extra height given by a two or three-tread step stool is ample for making up the height difference between a couple with a similar gap, and the handrail at the top allows you to stay stable while reaching for the item you need. 

When these step stools aren't actively being used they fold down to a very slim profile, making them ideal for storing on the back of a door out of the way.  They can be hung from over-door hooks, or you can install a separate hook on the door.  Self-adhesive hooks may not be able to safely hold the weight of the three-tread models (6.7 kilos) so for safety's sake, an over-door hook or one screwed into the door are best.  This is especially important if there are children in the house, who may be tempted to pull on the ladder or try to climb on it while it is hanging on the door.  The slim storage size means they can also be kept under a bed or down the side of some furniture.

With two-tread models costing just over £50 and three-tread options at just over £60, you could buy two or three without breaking the bank, keeping one in the kitchen, one upstairs and one in the garage or shed so there's always one close at hand.  If you're on a tight budget just buy one; it's no great hardship to carry these lightweight step stools around an average sized home; most of us don't live in a house the size of Kunis and Kutcher's, so we don't need one in every room.

We can't promise that the addition of a couple of step stools in the home will save a doomed marriage, but they're an easy solution to a very common problem.