DIY Kitchen Staging Ideas

In this article:

• Tips for staging kitchen cabinets
• Why reconsider the appliances?
• Kitchen-counter staging ideas
• Staging a kitchen table 101
• Replacing or adding kitchen lighting
• How to get organized in the kitchen
• Learning to live with a staged kitchen

Staging a cheerful and inviting atmosphere for potential buyers isn't all about furniture. Staging your kitchen is just as important as staging any other room in your home, despite the fact that there's not much furniture involved.

It's common for real estate agents to say that kitchens sell homes, and it's true — to some extent. According to the Zillow Group Consumer Housing Trends Report 2018, 58 percent of recent buyers said that finding a home with their preferred style of kitchen was extremely or very important to their purchase.

Tips for staging kitchen cabinets

One of the most obvious ways to give your kitchen a new look is to update the cabinetry, since it takes up so much visual space in the room. But new cabinetry can cost thousands of dollars, and a kitchen renovation can take months to complete.

Luckily, if you're staging your kitchen for sale, you don't need to demo your kitchen just to appeal to buyers. Instead, follow these kitchen staging tips for cabinets.

Paint

Painting cabinets is relatively inexpensive, but it's an advanced, labor-intensive DIY home staging project. You'll need materials, paint and at least two weekends to get the job done (maybe more, depending on the size of your kitchen). Expect lots of sanding and detail work, which are crucial to a professional-grade final product, and plan to work in the garage.

When choosing a paint color, check out other listings and recent sales to see what today's buyers are looking for. According to Zillow's 2018 Paint Color Analysis, tuxedo kitchens — where the upper and lower cabinets are two different colors — garner a $1,547 premium. The combination of white cabinets with a navy or black kitchen island was one of the most popular in top-performing listings.

New hardware

Whether you paint the cabinets or not, new hardware can go a long way in refreshing your kitchen's look, and it's a simple and fairly inexpensive fix. Choose hardware that fits the style of your existing cabinets — don't put ultramodern minimalist pulls on traditional cherry raised-panel cabinetry.

If you like the style of your current hardware but it needs a face-lift, you can remove the hardware, paint with Rust-Oleum spray and reinstall. A matte black looks great against white cabinets.

Soft-close cabinets and drawers

Soft-close cabinetry is fairly new in the residential housing market, and it's a little touch that buyers love. And when your drawers and hinges are soft-close, buyers may assume the kitchen is fairly new or at least recently renovated (whether it's true or not).

Adding soft-close dampers to your kitchen is an affordable and easy fix, with each damper taking less than 15 minutes to install.

Open shelving

If you have bare walls in or near your kitchen, consider adding open shelving, which gives an airy feel to the room and lets you show off nice dishware. Open shelving is very popular, so it may appeal to buyers who want an updated and stylish home.

Reconsider the appliances

Kitchen appliances are a big-ticket purchase, but if you have old appliances, it might be worth purchasing new stainless steel appliances to attract more buyers.

If a whole new set is out of your budget, the most important thing is that the appliances match. So avoid the temptation to upgrade just one appliance to stainless steel and leave the rest — it's better to have a matching kitchen with white or black appliances than a mismatched set.

If your appliances are already mismatched, see if you can afford to replace one or two so that they're all the same color. Or consider using a liquid stainless steel kit to make them all look similar.

Staging kitchen counters

After cabinets and appliances, countertops are a big focal point for buyers. The tricky part is that buyers' tastes and preferences vary in terms of material and color. Plus, replacing all your countertops can be expensive. Instead, work with what you've got.

Updates before kitchen-counter staging

Before you can stage your kitchen counters, you need to do some prep work to the surface itself so your staging is worth the effort.

Repair counter damage

If your granite countertops are chipped, you can do a DIY repair with epoxy instead of replacing the entire slab.

Sand butcher block

Butcher-block counters should be sanded and oiled so they're in the best shape possible before listing your home for sale.

Regrout tile

Grout gets dingy and dull over time, and regrouting is an easy fix that breathes new life into your tile countertops.

Reface laminate

Buyers don't get excited about dated laminate countertops, but if replacing them isn't possible, consider using a countertop resurfacing or painting kit to give them a marble or natural stone look.

Kitchen-counter staging ideas

Once you're improved your countertops, you're ready to stage. 

Remove clutter

Get rid of papers, pens, keys or other random household items. Stow bulky, infrequently used appliances in a cabinet so your countertops look more spacious.

Add decorative touches

Display dry goods with clear glass canisters in groups of three.

Make cookies

Set out freshly baked cookies before a showing or open house. They also make your home smell good.

Staging a kitchen island

While you may think of your kitchen island as just another countertop, there are a few ways to make it stand out to buyers.

If your island has a hanging rack above or open shelving below, decorate it tastefully with a few items. You’ll only want to showcase clean and matching cookware, not a mismatched set. For lower cabinet shelving, a few colorful cookbooks can provide a nice pop of color. 

On the island countertop, use a vase of fresh flowers as a centerpiece and add a bowl of fruit — consider oranges, green apples or lemons in odd numbers.

Staging a kitchen table

In your everyday life, the kitchen is all about function. But when your home is on the market, it should also be warm and inviting. The kitchen table is a great place to put this into practice.

Use your own decor to create a welcoming table arrangement, or pick up some new accessories online at discount home stores or at a thrift store.

Start with a tablecloth, place mats or a table runner, then add matching dishware. Include as many place settings as there are chairs. A fresh floral centerpiece is always a welcome addition, and some light seasonal decor can be nice too.

You don't have to keep the table staged around the clock, especially if you're living in the home while it's listed. Simply stage your kitchen table for a photo shoot, then reset it before every showing.

Focus on seating

Buyers notice the size of your kitchen and dining area and how many people can comfortably fit in it. Add an appropriate number of chairs and place settings for the room size and table size.

If you have a kitchen peninsula or island, include bar stools around it to show buyers that the kitchen has enough space for additional seating. Just don't crowd the space with too much furniture.

Replace or add lighting

A light and bright kitchen appeals to buyers with all kinds of tastes, so evaluate your lighting and see what needs updating.

Here are a few options:

• Install LED strips either under upper cabinets as task lighting or above the toe kick of the lower cabinets for an upscale touch.
• Swap dated island or peninsula pendants with something more modern.
• Replace fluorescent box lighting — a telltale sign of an outdated kitchen — with flush-mount fixtures.
• Add dimmers.
• Upgrade to smart light bulbs that you control with your phone.

Get organized

One of the most important home staging tips for any part of the home is decluttering. It can be time-consuming, but the payoff is big.  

Store most of your stuff

The biggest key to decluttering is simply having less stuff. And when it comes to staging your home, it also means having less personalized stuff.

Pack away personal items like keepsakes, family photos and refrigerator magnets. Then, think through which items you could live without for a month or two — your air fryer, turkey roasting pan, souvenir cups or mismatched dishes.

When decluttering, organization is key. Kitchens can easily become cluttered with pantry staples, small appliances, and odds and ends.

Organize the pantry in a stylish way

Pantries are a big selling point for buyers, but a pantry of any size can easily become overcrowded with dry goods, kitchen appliances and other household essentials.

Invest in some nice baskets and bins to keep things organized. Clear glass canisters are inexpensive and give your pantry a polished, upscale look while storing your pasta, nuts or flour.

Hide bulky items

In the pantry, use baskets and bins for chips, food bags and cans. Under the kitchen sink, install wire racks to store cleaning supplies. A spice rack is also a nice way to save storage space.

Bottom line: Do whatever you can to make your storage space feel abundant and organized.

Learn to live with a staged kitchen

If you're living in your home while it's listed, you'll have to adapt your daily routine to keep your kitchen looking its best for showings. The whole goal of kitchen staging is to give your home a fresh and clean look, which can be hard to maintain when you've got meals to prepare, lunches to pack and everyday life to live while you're waiting for your house to sell.

Clean daily

If you do decide to live in a staged home while it's for sale, keep the kitchen clean and clutter-free.

The following tasks should be completed every day so you're always ready for a last-minute showing. Oh, and while you're packing up and decluttering, don't accidentally pack your cleaning suppliers — you're going to need them!

• Vacuum floors (or use a robotic vacuum to save time).
• Mop hardwoods or laminate floors.
• Wipe down countertops.
• Throw away old food containers and empty the garbage.
• Polish appliances and windows to remove fingerprints and cooking debris.