Selling your kitchen instead of your house seems a little strange. For buyers, kitchens are extremely important and weigh more heavily on the final decision than the other rooms in the house. To ensure your kitchen astounds buyers, prepare your kitchen before selling.
- Begin by cleaning every single surface- ceiling counters, cabinets, countertops, walls, and floors.
- Organize your cabinets – you will be thankful you did this when moving day comes. Any outdated foods throughout. Group like things together. Edit extra mugs, glasses, pots, utensils, etc. Clean out the drawers and shelves and replace shelf paper.
- Matching appliances is a huge plus if they are not new, or only one is new, consider replacing the others so they are all the same finish. Make sure the surface of all appliances are clean and spotless.
- Clean the appliances inside and out, clean stove each and every grill, clean fridge out, and wash the surfaces so they are sparkling clean, and fresh – no old food odors here.
- Buyers will look inside your dishwasher, make sure there are no funky smells. Yes although we use our dishwasher to clean everything it needs to be cleaned too. Clean your filter first – soak it in warm soapy water to remove all residue on it. Then run 1 cup of white vinegar through your empty dishwasher on the heavy cycle. Sprinkling baking soda on the bottom of your dishwasher overnight, then run it through again empty.
- Your sinks are similar to your dishwasher they need to be clean and free of everything. If your faucet leaks or looks worse for the wear, replace it. Using baking soda and vinegar in the drains to deodorize and clean.
- Lighting can date a kitchen. Buyers do not desire a dark kitchen. Consider removing window curtain valences to let the light in. Also, consider updating the lighting in your kitchen too.
- If you have wallpaper – remove and paint. If you have paint and have not painted in the past year, freshen up the walls with a new coat of paint.
- Lastly, add the finishing touches of décor; keep it simple but make it feel like home. Touches that speak home resonate with buyers.
Extra hints:
- Remove trash prior to showings and make sure your garbage can is not highly visible, try and tuck under a cabinet if possible.
- If you have pets, have a plan when you show your house where you will be putting all the pet “equipment” not every buyer likes pets.
- Kids? Yup same idea, have a plan as to where you will be stashing the papers, toys etc. so that the clutter is not visible when showing.
Other good reads: