The Kitchen: Arguably the most important room of the house and the most varied!
Once upon a time a Kitchen was a simple thing, one of around perhaps six colours of Formica, a sink, space for the twin tub and room for the cooker. Now look at them! How many pinterest pages are devoted to the multifarious talents of kitchen designers.
Solid wood, stainless steel, two tone, freestanding, concrete and options keep on changing.
How do you get someone to fall in love with a Kitchen that they haven’t chosen themselves?
The key is to play to the desire, the Kitchen is amazingly important yet it is one part of the whole. You will never be certain that you can please everyone but what they will admire is cleanliness, order and a little touch of character, they want to see somewhere they can imagine spending time in and enjoying it. They want the Kitchen to reflect and quite often drive the feel of their home. Small, medium or large there are simple rules.
Flatter but don’t distract, create an impression of somewhere that cooking will be a pleasure, we know the reality isn’t always that, the train is late, the kids won’t get off the computer, the bag of flour split and the dog just chewed dad’s slipper may be more realistic but it isn’t the scene to set for viewers.
When we look at a new home we imagine a new Kitchen, new to us at least and we want to see something that feels new. We don’t want to see doors hanging at odd angles from the hinges, missing kick boards, wall cupboards listing drunkenly, rusty white goods and grubby cracked worksurfaces. We don’t want to find ourselves imagining what CSI Nick Stokes would glean from a residue test on the cooker or see a stack of dirty dishes and pans so high that a law of physics needs to be re written.
If you are thinking of selling take a long hard look at your kitchen, however big or small it is and think; remove distractions. What condition is the floor in? Chipped and cracked tiles hint at costly expenditure. Dirty white goods and cooker hoods give an impression of neglect. Tiled splash backs should have clean grout. What about light fittings? What condition are they in? Do all the bulbs work?
Fresh flowers and or a bowl of fresh fruit and we mean fresh, always look enticing. Try and avoid bananas unless you eat them quickly. They encourage other fruit to ripen faster and blackened bananas may be your thing but probably not other peoples.
If you are opting for an open house then the scent of warmed pastries and fresh coffee always tend to hit a soft spot with people.
We have five senses to experience things with, pander to the important ones, sight and smell; the imagination is a powerful tool, prompt it positively. Be careful with sound, it can be distracting and unpleasant for some. It can be nice to have a little music playing but keep it barely audible and tasteful. Touch, well people will touch work surfaces and open cupboards. As for taste, well best we leave that one alone, we’ve never had anyone lick a kitchen on a viewing and we certainly don’t imagine we will see that happen. Heaven forbid.
Something people often forget to think of are windows. What does your Kitchen look out over? Are the windows clean?
If you have French doors that open out onto a patio or seating area and the weather is right for it then leaving those doors open for viewers to find and get drawn into the moment, show the dream. Gardens we will talk about in another article.
PS If you’re wondering about your Utility Room well give it a considerate once over and ‘remove distractions’.
Next? Up to the bedroom.
Find some Kitchen inspiration on our Pinterest Board
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