A low-cost upgrade for your kitchen
The truth is that the condition of your kitchen can make or break the sale of your house.
The following ten low-cost kitchen update tips are relatively inexpensive and may raise your asking price in an online valuation tool.
1. Colour it beautiful
Without realising it, the majority of people are seduced by colour, and inviting a prospective buyer into a kitchen with matching window blinds, seat coverings and flooring can just clinch that vital sale. Repainting your kitchen is absolutely a low-cost upgrade. Be aware that colours fall into roughly two groups, warm and cool. Warm colours include red and orange, yellow and brown, while cool colours include all shades of blue, mauve and violet, pink and jade green. Of course, you won’t be able to tell the buyer’s colour preferences before the viewing begins, so just aim for colour harmony.
2. Give your kitchen a facelift
First, you want to freshen the overall kitchen area. Look into catalogues and seek out bright paints and varnishes. Attack all of those stale, stained and greasy kitchen corners with a sander and brushes. Remove your doors and sand them before painting. It takes time, yes, but repainting will remove years from your kitchen’s age, and may just entice that buyer. Remember that cool colours make an area look bigger, so one attractive scheme could be vibrant red chairs and blinds, against grey walls and a black/white tiled floor. If uncertain, check out household magazines.
3. Get on top
Scratched and worn countertops not only ruin the appearance of your kitchen, they are unhygienic to work upon. Happily, it is easy to replace them with hard-wearing, inexpensive and attractive laminated materials. Instead of replacing the entire surface, you can opt to cover the old and worn countertops with the new material.
4. A good front
It is possible to replace the door and drawer fronts without having to buy complete units. DIY superstores like B&Q and Wickes, and specialist companies such as Kitchen Door Workshop and Dream Doors, stock replacement doors in a range of styles, sizes and colours. With professional help, finding an exact match for your existing kitchen fixtures should not be a problem and fairly low-cost.
5. Back to basics
Many people judge the kitchen by the state of the floor, which is why dingy tiles and worn floorboards can discourage an otherwise interested buyer. Unfortunately, ageing floor coverings do tend to retain detritus, so it is worth paying for new covering when seeking to sell. Specialist household outlets will advise you on how to gain the maximum value from new vinyl, tile and other flooring materials that will tone in with existing décor.
6. Raising the sink
Without thinking too much about its condition, we use our kitchen sink daily. However, stains, scratches and scaled areas on this vital equipment will not add buyer appeal to your house. Luckily, it has never been so easy to replace an old sink. Consider the overall style of your kitchen before selecting a new one. The very fashionable white stone sink will add a traditional atmosphere to any area, while stainless steel is a popular choice for modern surroundings. Hire a household professional like the experts from Victoria plumbing to ensure exact measurements and correct installation.
7. The new essential
A boiling-water tap used to be a fashionable accessory; now it has become an indispensable item of kitchen equipment. With this transition, a wide range of manufacturers make them and their price has lowered considerably. Consider installing a “3-in-1” tap, dispensing hot and cold water, in addition to filtered steaming hot water.
8. Setting the mood
Even an insignificant feature, such as dated floral tiles in the sink splashback area, can date an entire kitchen. However, a number of inexpensive alternatives are available. One popular option for the up-to-date splashback is the vinyl, metal-look panel. Easy to clean and a superb reflector of light, you can place these panels at intervals, both to connect the splashback visually to the rest of the kitchen and to create a mood.
9. Lighting and ambience
Lighting is an essential part of the indoor ambience, and this is particularly true in the kitchen. Forget what you have become used to; get a friend to check that work areas have adequate strip and spot lighting. Highlight seating and dining areas with modernist pendant lights and countertop lamps.
10. The finishing touches
With everything else in place, consider the kitchen furniture. Assuming that you now have fresh and clean walls and floors, an inviting colour scheme and state-of-the-art sink equipment, a dingy table and worn chairs are a no-no. Buy good quality furniture that you can either bring with you or even sell to the house buyer. If your existing furniture is in good condition, lay on the table and chair covers that tone in with your new colour scheme.
However you improve your kitchen, plan from the beginning and set a definite budget to keep the cost low.
