Kitchens are one of the most important and highly scrutinized areas by buyers in a home for sale. They are also one of the busiest parts of the home. Like a bathroom or child’s bedroom, kitchens can be a challenge to keep clean. Whether your home is for sale in Wilderness Shores in Locust Grove, Rhoadesville, or beyond, having a kitchen that is ready for showings is important.

Buyers are typically searching for a kitchen that is move in ready. Most buyers are not interested in doing a complete overhaul of a kitchen that they view as non-functional. This doesn’t mean that buyers aren’t willing to put a little effort into a kitchen to make it more their style. So, even if your kitchen isn’t completely brand new (because let’s face styles and fashion change quickly) you can still make it appealing and help buyers see themselves living in the space. Here are 8 easy ways to stage an appealing kitchen.

  • Clean, Clean, and Clean: No surprise here-a clean kitchen is key. Take the time to wipe down the inside and outside of your cabinets, scrub the floors and windows, the tile and grout, and make those appliances shine both inside and out.
  • Declutter the countertops and cabinets: Nothing shouts “this kitchen has a lack of storage space” like countertops that are overflowing with small appliances, drying racks, containers, and papers. Remove everything from your counters with the exception of a few things you use daily like a coffee maker or toaster. Take time to go through your cabinets and pack up things you aren’t going to be using-a blender, holiday dishes, ect– and donate or discard items. Now is a great time to even out the ration between plastic storage containers and lids. Remember, buyers may open kitchen cabinets to see how they are designed inside and you don’t want an entire countertops worth of stuff to come crashing down on them!
  • Set a spot: If you have a bar area off your island, set the table with matching dishes and add a pop of color with placemats. This helps to highlight the extra space in the kitchen buyers might overlook. If you have barstools, consider only using two instead of four. Having the stools touching each other makes the space seem smaller.
  • Add some color: Kitchens are usually more neutral spaces with wood tones. Bring a splash of color into the space in the form of a vase of flowers, bowl of fruit, or dish towel. Bonus points if the color is used as an accent elsewhere in your home.
  • Let in the light: Do you have a window above the sink? Open up the blinds and let the light shine in! If you have showings in the evening, turn on all the kitchen lights, including the one below a microwave, to highlight the space.
  • Be Odor Aware: Lots of delicious food is made in kitchens. Sometimes the odors of these foods are not buyer friendly. Try to be aware of when you have showings and maybe put off cooking the sauerkraut until after. Empty your trash frequently to prevent odors from building up and spreading.
  • Organize the Pantry: While it doesn’t have to be magazine ready, having an organized pantry signals to buyers that there is space in the pantry for their things too. Check out these tips to keeping a pantry organized
  • Daily Clean: The hardest part of staging a kitchen is keeping it that way. Take ten minutes every day to wipe down the countertops, put away the dishes, do a quick straightening the pantry, and sweep the floor. It’s a lot less stressful to do this everyday than to try to do it right before a showing when you are trying to get yourself and your family out of the door.

Looking for more tips about preparing your home for sale? Check out the articles below.

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