8 Professional Tips for Staging a Kitchen Before Listing Your Home

Your kitchen is the hub of your home — it’s where you cook meals, entertain guests, and enjoy family time. Because you use your kitchen frequently, this room requires extra special attention before putting your home on the real estate market.

However, you may be surprised to learn that staging a kitchen is easier (and less expensive!) than you might think. Keep reading for our best tips, tricks, and key areas to focus on when staging your kitchen.

Helpful Tips for Staging a Kitchen to Attract Potential Buyers

Drastic kitchen remodeling projects aren’t necessary to make your kitchen stand out from the competition. Simple tasks, like decluttering, organizing, and the other ideas listed below, can help your kitchen sparkle, shine, and impress future buyers!

1. Clear Away the Clutter

Before you start anything else, the most important thing to do when staging your kitchen is to clear away the clutter. Even small changes can make a big difference and make your space feel more comfortable and spacious.

Tuck away your favorite cookbooks and remove magnets, photos, cards, and other personal items from the refrigerator. Cluttered countertops make your kitchen appear smaller, so remove large, bulky items from your countertops, like your standing mixer, coffee maker, and toaster oven. This doesn’t just apply to the kitchen, for a complete list of must-do tasks check our declutter checklist.

2. Paint Your Walls

Even if your kitchen is in good shape, one of the best ways to spruce up the room is with a fresh coat of paint. If the walls in your kitchen are painted an unusual, dark color, it’s definitely best to swap it out with a lighter, neutral color. If you have a small kitchen, lighter-colored walls help the visual space appear larger, which is appealing to buyers.

Clean white walls are always a safe option, but other lighter neutrals, like sage green, can look great in a staged home when done correctly. When in doubt, trust a professional interior decorator to choose the right color combination for a quick sale.

3. Update Your Kitchen Appliances

If you want your home to sell quickly in today’s real estate market, it’s wise to replace your outdated refrigerator, oven, and dishwasher with modern appliances that buyers want to see, like stainless steel appliances and smart features.

Though it may be more of an initial investment up front, one of the top staging tips for any room in your house (especially the kitchen) is to install new appliances. If a buyer is deciding between a home with new and old appliances, they’ll likely choose the one with new features because they won’t have to deal with maintenance as quickly. Plus, you can use your upgrades as a selling point to secure a higher price for your home!

4. Organize the Pantry

Remember, kitchen staging doesn’t have to be super practical — it just has to be pretty. That’s why if you’re not already super organized, you must spend a decent amount of time cleaning and organizing your pantry.

Remove nonessential items, like packaged cookies, crackers, snacks, and extra “bulk” meals, and keep pantry staples, like flour, spices, rice, and pasta, in matching food storage containers or open baskets. You can store the bulky items you removed from your countertops and bar area on the upper shelves, like your toaster, coffee pot, and other small appliances.

5. Clean Out Storage Spaces

Most people don’t feel like their home has enough storage space, so when searching for a new home — storage is something they’ll be paying attention to.

Even if you have a small kitchen and use every square inch of your storage (including those pesky upper cabinets), it’s crucial to make it seem like your kitchen has unused storage by tucking away bulky items and mismatched utensils in a box. In fact, taking the time to organize your drawers, shelves, and cabinets can really go a long way!

6. Refresh Your Kitchen Cabinets

If you’re looking for inexpensive kitchen renovation ideas that will make a big difference when you stage your kitchen, consider sprucing up your cabinets. Swap out outdated hardware with beautiful gold, bronze, or silver pieces that match your countertops or appliances. You can also apply adhesive strip lights under your kitchen cabinets, called task lighting, to make cooking, cleaning, and navigating your kitchen easier — no electrician needed!

If you have open shelving, it’s likely a focal point in your kitchen. Since a staged kitchen shouldn’t be too busy, consider removing practical items from your open shelving and tucking them away behind closed cabinets. Then, style your open shelves with decorative items like candles, succulents, cookbooks, and a few pretty, matching, white dishes for a minimalist look. Don’t over decorate — simplicity is key!

7. Clean Up & Deodorize

Though you may still use your kitchen before or after your open house, the key to attracting home buyers is to make your kitchen feel like a model home. This means hiding unsightly items from your kitchen island, like dish soap and rags, and hiding unwelcoming scents.

If you’re in a pinch, try running a lemon down your garbage disposal. You can also use an essential oil diffuser or candle warmer to make your home smell great without worrying about the hazard of open flames while people come in and out of your home.

8. Decorate with a Fruit Bowl & Flowers

It’s beneficial to add an attractive “pop” of color before potential buyers arrive for a tour of your home (or before listing your property online). Small touches like these can make your kitchen appear warm and welcoming.

Consider placing brightly colored fruit, like apples, oranges, and bananas, in a pretty bowl on your kitchen island. Just be sure to use fresh fruit that doesn’t go bad quickly. Alternatively, you can add a bouquet of fresh flowers to your kitchen countertop to add a fresh look and smell to your staged kitchen.

Reach Out for More Home Staging Tips from THE STAGING COMPANY

If you need real estate staging tips outside the kitchen or if you’d rather hand over kitchen staging to the experts while you pack other rooms in your home — reach out to our experienced team at THE STAGING COMPANY. We specialize in helping homeowners in East Texas and Florida sell their homes for a higher asking price more quickly with professional staging services. Learn more about our services, and when you’re ready to get started, contact us to set up a consultation.