Retract-A-Gate 72" Black: The Original and only Made in USA Retractable Baby, Dog, & Cat Gate

Highly recommend these gates. We had the traditional metal gate. It was a pain to use and it looked ugly in our main living area. We have a split level - so many staircases. I was able to buy a stairway post kit (Amazon item #B004CEN62O) which allowed me to mount to the staircase post without drilling holes. If you go this route, know that you will need a post mounting kit for each post (they are sold individually). I ended up going to the big box store and buying a piece of wood, painting it black and using that for the other post since I didn't learn about the post mounting kit till later. Both methods work, just depends if you want holes in your posts. The gate is sturdy and retracts down to a small footprint. I like that when they are retracted, they take up little space. It's easy to open/close and lock with one hand - perfect when carrying a little one. It has good height and the locking mechanism is very strong - won't budge when locked. It also has safety certs and is made in the USA. Highly recommend supporting this small business!

We are very satisfied with our Retract-a-Gate products. We have two Retract-a-Gates now, one each for the top and bottom of our staircase. We also have the safe railing guard from the same company installed on our second floor. I like the aesthetics, functionality and quality of the Retract-a-Gate products. I like that the gates retract so that they are completely out of the way when you don’t need them. These products help us keep our little one safe and blend in well with our home.We have a unique situation in that our staircase has a double wide step at that bottom that curves out into the room, plus it runs along a brick wall, which we didn’t want to drill into. Thanks to the pivoting base, we were able to install the Retract-a-Gate at the bottom of our stairs diagonally, which allowed us to avoid drilling into the brick.Also, I had positive experiences with customer service: I called and got helpful information about the size of board to purchase to avoid drilling directly into the banister. I also emailed a photo of our stair situation and customer service marked it to help me know where to drill.Photos:1. Top of the stairs, showing the safe railing guard plus the open Retract-a-Gate.2. Top of the stairs, gate closed.3. Bottom of the stairs, gate open.4. Bottom of the stairs, gate closed.

This gate is FANTASTIC. Highly recommended. Great quality, absolutely worth the price.I stressed so much about how to safely gate our stairs since pretty much all child safety experts all say you should never use a retractable gate for stairs, but in our home no "hard" swinging gate would work due to a very narrow hallway and the placement of several opposing doors and openings. I found this one and it totally lives up to its claims than when installed per the instructions it CAN be used safely atop stairs. Per the instructions we made sure it was installed 6" back from the stair edge, so even if a child pushed hard against it they couldn't somehow slip under it. You must be sure to lock it for safety -- it's not automatic -- but we found even as sleep-deprived and stressed baby/toddler parents it quickly became muscle memory to always lock it.Installation instructions were very clear. We did need 2 accessory kits (Retract-A-Gate Wall Spacer Set and the Retract-A-Gate Stair Banister Kit) to make it work for our house, but they both also worked perfectly to handle thick baseboard trim on one side and a post on the other (see photos).It's so great that it's not obtrusive when not in use, without a big gate to trip on or bump into or hit the walls or anything. Plus, the "reel" that stores the gate when retracted can be easily removed if you need the space like to move furniture, or to clean, or for a long period when you don't need the gate.It has held up in great condition, still looks like new and works smoothly. Our kiddo is now 4 and we actually still use it at night just as an added deterrent to keep her from wandering downstairs. While she is tall enough to reach to unlock it, it would take her some time to fully undo it, and the noise doing so would alert us.

I have the original version of the baby gate which I purchased late 2023. This version of the gate came with brackets that were IMO poorly suited for drywall framed interior walls that are common in modern homes.With the original bracket, the two fasteners are oriented horizontally and due to the width of the bracket, it was impossible to attach it completely to a stud. Either one screw is in and the other isn't or both end up straddling the stud. As a result, drywall anchors are needed. This isn’t ideal for a lot of reasons, and so I put the gate aside for a while.My new home has a location that was ideal for this style of gate, and so I looked at it again. I discovered that sometime in 2024, the brackets were updated so that the fasteners are oriented vertically. This allows them to be mounted on a stud. However, the roller part itself was also re-designed with thicker 5/8" bars, and so the newer bracket is not compatible with the older gate, which has bars of around 1/2".Not wanting to buy another gate on such a minor incompatibility, I ordered the new brackets from the manufacturer directly. I also purchased some vinyl tubing from my local hardware store that had a inner diameter of 1/2" and outer diameter of 5/8”. I then unscrewed the bar from the bottom of the gate and slipped the vinyl tubing over it. Some baby powder or corn starch helps with this. This mod allows the older gate to clip securely into the new bracket. I left the other side because a secure fit there is not as critical, but the same thing could be done if you split the tubing.This won’t affect new buyers, only those who are considering another one. This hack also likely diminishes the safety limitations of the gate slightly, so try it at your own risk.