Before you start your kitchen renovation, particularly when preparing your home for sale, it’s important to have a clear idea of what needs to be replaced, refurbished or simply left as is.

Before you begin assessing your kitchen renovation, you will need to establish who your target market is going to be and how you will need to present the home for this target market. This is very important as what you would need to do in your kitchen for a young professional couple vs a young family will be quite different. If you need help with this I would recommend that you contact me for one of my free property presentation plans.

Use the below list as a guideline for assessing your current kitchen and the condition it is in.

Flooring

What is the condition of the floors? What are the materials that have been used? Does the current flooring go with the rest of the property and your end vision for your kitchen and how you are presenting it to your target market?

If your target market is young professionals and you are spending money on granite bench-top, laminate wood flooring probably isn’t a good idea. Likewise tiles won’t be a good idea for a young family.

Cabinetry

Assess the condition of your current cabinetry fittings, are there any signs of water damage to the doors, shelves or walls? Could you get away with a good clean up of the interior shelving?

Does the colour of the doors match the rest of the colour tone that you intend to use through the kitchen, dining areas and/ or the rest of the property? Does the quality match the intended quality of the completed renovation?

The things that you are looking to assess here is: Can you get away with simply painting the doors? Can you get away with replacing the doors? Do you need to replace some of the cabinetry? Do you need to replace all of the cabinetry?

Fixtures

What is the condition of the door and drawer handles? Do they look like something fresh out of Miami Vice or Home and Garden? Do they match the rest of the style of the home?

What condition is the tapware in? Are they modern looking or simple ex-state home 2 taps?

Same goes for the sink, is it shiny and bright? Could it just do with some product and strong elbow grease or is it rust damaged and scratched?

Appliances

How do your appliances stack up with the end result that you are looking for? Are they in working order? Is your ceramic hob cracked or damaged?

Benchtops and Splashbacks

What is the condition and/or colour of your benchtop? Are there any stains, cuts, scratches or burn marks?

The bench-top is really important as it’s the key thing that people will look at, and touch. It will affect how your kitchen looks and feels, by the colour, texture and quality of the product that you use.

How does your splash-back go with the rest of your plan? Current trends are for a smooth (coloured) glass or stainless finish. Splash backs can either be a feature item, or something that slips into the background. Just be careful not to overdo the statement you are making.

Paintwork

What colour is your kitchen? Does it match the rest of the colour plan? Keep in mind that when you are reselling, neutral colours are your friend. Don’t try and be bold, adventurous or my all time favourite ‘make it interesting’. Add colour and interest with your finishing décor pieces and artwork.

Window Treatments

Are you window treatments looking fresh, clean and modern? Or like they have a lot of cooking spoils embedded in them? Would dry cleaning them make a difference or should you replace them completely?

Lighting

Kitchens need to be a well lit area with bright lighting, does your current kitchen provide this?

Most of the time buyers will not turn the lights on specifically to see if shadows are cast, but they will notice if your lights look dated or if you don’t have enough.

Artwork

What artwork do you have in the kitchen? This is where you can add in some personality and colour. If you are using a feature splash-back then keep your artwork minimal, if you don’t have a feature item then this is your chance to go big.

These points will help you really hone in on what needs to be done in your kitchen. Over the next little while posting articles that are specific to your kitchen and the renovation projects that you can complete in there.

If you would like personalized advice for your kitchen, or your home in general, please contact me to arrange for one of my free property presentation plans. This is personalized advice to show to you how to maximize the sale price of your home. You can call me on 021 85 84 83