How to Prepare Your Kitchen for Sale
So, you are going to sell your house and move on somewhere new.
Sounds like an adventure, but before you do, it’s time to get ready.
To get the maximum amount of money for a home, you need to show it at its best and that includes the kitchen. This article contains some tips for you on how to make your kitchen look great.
1. Know Your Goals
When it comes to making over or presenting your kitchen, you need to know how you want it presented. Your kitchen will need:
- To look and feel fresh and clean
- Feel light
- Feel spacious
- Feel welcoming
- Shows life, but not too much
- Tastefully designed and appointed
2. Get the Floor Right
A small point to some, but a major issue to many. Your floor needs to be just right be it stone or wood. These are the best two to go for – something nice and cool in the summer. Hardwoods and flagging can be real income boosters when it comes to home values, so it is safe to say that linoleum is not going to cut it. However, investing in a new floor comes with risks – you need the added value to be above the cost of the upgrade. If you doubt this will happen, vinyl is a cheaper option with low costs but lower returns.
3. Get Your Kitchen Deep Cleaned
Hire a professional cleaning service to deep clean your house from top to bottom, but especially the bathroom and the kitchen. This will prove to be one of your best investments when it comes to selling your home – make it look new and clean again. As part of this, be aware of any odours so keep rubbish and bins away from the kitchen on viewing days – run lemon juice down your bin too to help remove any smells.
4. Repaint the Cabinets and other areas
Walls, backsplashes, and cabinets can look tired easily. Some tiling may need to be re-done and some handles and knobs will need replacing. However, a total repaint will improve the overall atmosphere and look of the kitchen. As noted in point 1, making things look fresh is vital and repainting does this.
5. Replace any Old Hardware like Taps
Alongside replacing door knobs and handles, you should consider replacing other hardware which might be looking tired. This includes taps, plugs, sink holes, undersink piping, washers (no dripping taps!), and hobs. Having new and clean looking elements within a kitchen really helps to add value to the whole house.
6. Upgrade the Lighting
Another point made in part 1 here was lighting. A good kitchen looks bright and airy, but this cannot always be achieved using natural light alone. Getting windows cleaned is excellent, but it is difficult and expensive to expand them or to add skylights where possible (usually it is not). However, more effective kitchen lighting is possible. Modern lighting needs to be more diffuse with multiple lights spread across the room to provide good, even lighting. To reduce costs and increase effectiveness, LED lights are best.
