Ragdoll Cat Forums

So we've had Ruby for about 3 & 1/2 weeks, we put a litterbox in her "safe" room which is my daughter's bedroom upstairs, then we also put another off the kitchen in the pantry. The real litterbox area is in the basement (we have another cat, so her box has always been down there), we would like to someday soon eliminate the litterbox in the kitchen & move it down to the basement next to the other one. I just took the one out of my daughter's room tonight because Ruby isn't confined to her room anymore, she has the run of the house.
My question is, how long should I wait before moving the one off the kitchen to the basement? And how do you go about doing it? She sleeps upstairs and she would have to go down 2 floors if she has to go. We also have 2 doors (w/ the cat/dog doors built in) that she would have to go through first before reaching the litterbox. Neither of my cats ever had any problems doing this.
My main concern w/ Ruby is that she's always wherever we are so I wonder if she will go all the way downstairs on her own. I don't mind waiting a bit longer but I don't want the litterbox in the kitchen permanent.
Does anyone have any suggestions/input on how to make the transition?
Thanks!

Keep litterboxes near a young kitten. They do not have the control of an adult and may head for a distant box too late. That is much more important than a few extra boxes around the house. (Also, although many cats do not need so many, the rule of thumb is the number of boxes should equal the number of cats plus one. So, two cats means three boxes. Making the decision to go below that number should be carefully considered.)

Good advice, from JanH!
I also have heard that if you move a box, move it a few inches each day toward the new placement and not all at once to a different location.

I wouldn't remove the box from her 'safe room' while she's still so young, Ruby might forget it's not there anymore during play and be late looking for the other box in the kitchen. Especially with 2 floors and cat doors in between I'd be wary to create a problem...

The first milestone you want to look for is the kitten consistently using the box(es) in the basement. You will then have to decide if the use is evidence that a nearer box is no longer needed. You may want to consider moving or abandoning the kitchen box first, because that means the kitten must travel just one floor to a box and that the nighttime box is on the second floor where you want the kitten to be when sleeping with the family. Kittens may be slowest to get too far from the family at night.