The National Post recently had a story where a couple asked if they should renovate their kitchen before selling. My answer is to do some upgrades but without spending a lot of money. I’ll sometimes add a backsplash or re-tile floors or paint cupboards. A new range hood is an easy $ 100 fix, so I’ll often do that too. But appliances, unless broken or in bad shape, are a big ticket item and most people prefer to pick their own. I don’t replace them unless I have to and then with ones that look good but aren’t super-expensive — I don’t think you get a dollar more for spending on high-end ones when you’re trying to sell.
Here are some of my kitchen before-and-afters.
This one simply needed a new backsplash, which cost around $ 1200.00.
Here’s another where a new backsplash, knobs, floor tiles, and range hood (the old one was pretty disgusting) made all the difference. The property sold within a week.
A lot of kitchens have those old oak strip cabinets from the 80s. Painting those strips out can make a huge difference: here’s an example where I used a creamy white on the uppers and painted the lowers a soft grey to work with the existing countertop and tile floor. This is one case where I actually did add new appliances — the old ones were in terrible shape. But the buyer, who purchased this home within 48 hours of it being listed) exchanged them for ones she liked better.
Here’s another example of how painting that dated oak strip to match the rest of the cupboard can update a kitchen. Unlike the example above, only the oak strip was painted to match the rest of the cabinets. Look how clean and contemporary it feels now!
Creating eat-in space adds value and doesn’t have to be big. In two of these kitchens, I created a small space for a table and chairs, in fact, I used the same table and chairs to stage both spaces! (I got that hanging light fixture in the first one on Kijiji for around $ 30: it was gorgeous.)
If you can keep existing flooring, that’s great, but sometimes it’s ugly or damaged. We replaced the tile in this kitchen for about $ 1/tile, painted the room, added new knobs to the cabinets, and installed new light fixtures. (I found this pendant light on Kijiji for around $ 25). Talk about a transformation!
