How to Stage a Kitchen

For many sellers, staging a kitchen is the hardest room in the house to stage.

Although many people consider the kitchen to be the most important home in the house, the reason it's difficult to stage is because most of us use our kitchens. We litter counter tops with appliances. Toss mail and newspapers on the kitchen table. If you're like me, you might not even put your dirty dishes immediately into the dishwasher but instead deposit them into the sink. It's hard to keep a kitchen sparkling 24/7.

The funny thing is even if a buyer would rather swap out the stove for a built-in wine cooler and rarely cooks, kitchens can make or break a sale. Kitchens are sometimes referred to as the heart of a home. If a buyer doesn't like the kitchen, the buyer might pass up that house in favor of a home with a more appealing kitchen.

The first step in staging a kitchen is to declutter. This means remove everything from the counters, clear off the top of the refrigerator and take down all those magnets on the front of a refrigerator. I advise sellers to buy a plastic storage box from Target. Then, put in all the things used every day -- soap, sponges and even the coffeepot -- and stick the box under the sink, out of sight. Sound extreme? Well, do you want to be positioned against the competition as the best-looking home on the market? . . . read more about how to stage a kitchen.

More Articles by Elizabeth Weintraub, click below:

• Do Vacant Homes Show Better?
  
• Home Staging Secrets From the Pros
  
• Prepare Your House For Sale

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