Quick opinion - would you redo this kitchen to put on the market?

[Kitsmummy]

Hi, unfortunately it looks like I'm going to have to sell my house in the next year. It's a beautiful big house that we've much much time, love and money into over the past few years. The big plan was always to do a kitchen extension and end up with a lovely big kitchen.

This is now off the cards and so I want to know if you think it would be worth doing the kitchen and to what degree? Just a paint of the horrible 1980s melamine units and new laminate work surfaces? Or a new cheap ikea kitchen, or I could get a hand built kitchen with Belfast sink, wooden worktops etc done for around £5k.

To put it into context the current kitchen is an old, shabby bodge job which is totally out of keeping with the rest of the house. I've attached a photo but it really doesn't show how bad it is in real life (pretty grotty). I have also attached a pic of our bathroom which is v nice (I think!) and this shows the level the rest of the house is at really. The value of the house is around £370k minimum.

In short, no. Leave it for the new owners to do. There's nothing really wrong with the kitchen, or the bathroom, in fact they're both much nicer than many on the market at the moment.

I agree to leave the kitchen but bear in mind the buyer may try and knock you down on price.

Sorry you have to maybe sell. I love your tiles in your bathroom. Are they from fired earth?

Errr thanks, I should hope the bathroom is nice as it's newly done!

Your bathroom is lovely! If the rest of the house is that nice you should get lots of interest.

I would leave the kitchen; lots of people like to add value / put their own stamp on a new place.

thanks preggers and Caitlin, tiles are Mandarin Stone

I should add that I'd be more than happy to do the kitchen if it would add value - does no-one think that by spending around £2k on an ikea kitchen for example and really smartening the room that it would add more than £2k value to the house?

The kitchen really is crappier than it comes across in the photo and I was thinking as the rest of the house is so up together it might add more value to do a cheap but decent enough update on the kitchen?

Leave it. It wouldn't put me off though I'd expect the price to reflect that realistically it needs a new kitchen. I'd rather have money off the house and choose my own kitchen. The kitchen you have is liveable with. No one is going to run away from the house because of it.

I wouldn't change it. Everyone likes to do something to their new house and I've suffered more than once at putting up with something not to my taste because it was new and therefore I couldn't justify changing it.

Get some local estate agents in to do a free valuation and ask their advice about the kitchen and the relative returns.

The house deserves better than a 2k ikea kitchen. From what you describe it deserves an extension. I think you either do it properly (and lose money) or leave it as it is. The new owners will do it they're own way.

Best to ask a local agent though.

Love the bathroom :-)

I would leave it. You would be better off spending time checking what sort of extension would be permissible. I would de clutter because everything looks too busy, and spend money putting in more attractive accessories. Not sure what the house is, but I don't think an Ikea kitchen will sell it. You will still have floors, white goods and sink etc to do. None of this might be the choice of your purchasers and they might just rip it out. You could check what similar properties look like in your price bracket but I would be happy to buy a house with a grotty kitchen and do it my way for my way of life. If you want an extension, your buyer might want one too.

Thanks for all your opinions, looks like it's unanimous then, no new kitchen! damn

The kitchen is quite usable and clean looking, I'm sure nearly all buyers would rather choose their own new one laid out how they want - I know I would. Perhaps have the agent primed to say nicely that you were going to do the kitchen/extension to the quality of the rest of the house, but thought a buyer would rather choose their own and the house is priced accordingly.

Leave your buyer something to do for themselves and have the pleasure of choosing it.

Someone near us covers the doors for about £100, could you do something like that just to freshen up ?

You could get some plans and drawings done for the kitchen extension to really show the potential.

Agree with the others, I have also heard that houses that are, liveable but need a bit of modernisation, are quite hard to add value to because there is fairly high demand because so many people want to add their own stamp.

Now whether this is just estate agent bullshit is another matter and I'm sure even if there is a grain of truth there would be many variables on this such as area, type of house etc. That said, I know where I live there definitely isn't an asking price between houses that are 'done' and those that need doing that is equal to the amount you'd probably need to spend to get from one to the other.

I'm going to disagree with everyone! If the house is a family house, and you're expecting to sell to a family (space, location near good schools etc), I would re-do the kitchen. I think for a house in that price bracket, people aren't going to expect a bespoke kitchen but would value a good, basic, relatively modern / new kitchen. As you say, you could get that from Ikea or similar for 2-3k. If the rest of the house is as nice as the bathroom (we had the same bath by the way!) the kitchen lets it down and as previous posters say, people will knock off the cost of re-doing the kitchen as part of the negotiating. I would bet that the vast majority of people will knock off more than it costs you to re-do it on a budget. It may also deter some buyers because the bitter voice of experience it is really disruptive to family life when you have to replace the kitchen.

If a would-be purchaser then wants to change the kitchen / extend, then they can do, but its their choice rather than thinking it needs to be replaced.

Thank you all. Gaaah, I don't know what to do! Mandy - my thoughts were the same as yours essentially and I thought if the rest of the house was "done" then people would probably prefer the kitchen "done" too (this wouldn't be my choice in a new house but lots of people like a completely re-furbed house don't they?). However everyone else here disagrees.

I keep thinking surely an Ikea kitchen (fitted well) and the rest of the room tidied up, tiling, sinks so it's nice and stylish would add 5k to the house? People would take more than 5k off the asking price wouldn't they if they were allowing for a new kitchen? Or I could go the whole hog and get my usual carpenter to do a nice hand built lovely kitchen. With slate flooring, finished nicely etc I doubt the whole lot would cost more than 6k.

the room is 16ft x 12ft by the way so not small by any standards but probably a bit small compared to the rest of the house.

But thank you everyone, I do appreciate your thoughts and admit that if 10 of you say one thing and 2 of us say the other, then the chances are that you 10 are the ones that have got it right!

Have you spoken to any local estate agents about this? They will be able to tell you who there are more of in your market place. Please do bear in mind that the people you've asked are a fairly skewed sample as lots of people hang around the property board because they like doing things like putting in kitchens

good point dooble, people on this board are probably as property obsessed as i am!

Just to say estate agents will never recommend putting in a new kitchen because they want your house on the market NOW. They don't want to have to wait whilst you put a new kitchen in because it potentially delays them getting their grubby mitts on the commission. Whether you get 370 or 400 for the house, it makes very little difference to their commission if you're paying 1 or 2%. I do agree that you get a skewed view on here, but the OP will know who her house is aimed at hopefully. Have to accept I'm in a minority, but would be interesting to know how many of the previous posters have a house with a similar value and a young family and been without a kitchen for a period of time .

I think it depends on where you are to be honest.

Where I live in the SE, houses between £300k and £450k are bog standard family 3 or 4 bed semis and detached. We bought recently and every single one had a bog standard B&Q / Ikea / Homebase / Second Nature / Wickes / Howdens kitchen with laminate or wooden work tops.

Where my parents live in the NW, houses in that price bracket are the 'fancy' houses and have £20k + kitchens in with granite / silestone / quartz work tops.

If you fit into the first category, and can afford it, spend £5k or so bringing your kitchen up to date. If your house is more like the second category, then I would be inclined to leave it to the buyer and price your house accordingly.

I would only do it if the return on investment was going to be worth the actual hassle of doing the work in advance of moving out.

If the layout of the kitchen lends itself to an easy extension adn is something that your neighbours have done, then I wouldn't bother. Freshen up the paint, regrout the tiles and if really necessary change the cupboard doors, all so it doesn't stand out. Most people don't open cupboard doors in a kitchen when they view so it's all about the first impressions.

Painting melamine always looks fairly rubbish imo and it's easily spotted.
Benchmarx, B&Q or Howdens will all sell doors fairly reasonably. Something like this is totally inoffensive
www.diy.com/nav/rooms/kitchens/kitchen-cabinet-doors-fronts/-style%3Ecarisbrooke_ivory_framed/-producttype-standard_doors

Whatsitallabout I'm in the NW and in my part of the NW, you wouldn't be able to get a 3 bed detached, or a 4 bed semi for that sort of money. You're looking at a 3 bed semi / victorian terrace with that sort of value. But I agree with your logic that a 'fancy' house usually has a fancy kitchen and buyers will expect that so if the OP isn't going to do that, it might be worth leaving it as is (although I actually think you can get a "fancy" look without automatically going high end / bespoke etc).

we're rural Somerset just outside Wells. I would say it's definitely a (big) cut above a standard 3/4 bed semi but it is infact a 4 bed semi!!! It's an old pub with lots of beams/gargoyles/quirky features, garden is a third of an acre, lots of parking, a stream, all rooms (apart from kitchen) are huge, so square footage including basement is 2700 sq ft.

However, prices haven't really shifted in the four years we've owned it. We've spent 40k on it and it's gone up by 40k, whilst the smaller (under 250k) type house in Wells itself have rocketed over the past year or so. So now the price difference between our lovely house and waaay smaller more standard houses is much less than it was a few years ago...so frustrating, especially when you're divorcing and need to get as much as you can to buy one of the smaller, standard houses which have rocketed in price

Lots of old people in the (v naice) village but some families too as we're catchment for great schools around here.

probably should leave it as it is shouldn't I?

Sorry about the divorce Kits crap reason for having to sell.

Are you actually around the £250K mark (although I suspect you might be over)? Then remember there is always the stamp duty issues that totally skews prices around that mark.

I think it would be the likelihood that whoever buys will probably end up wanting to extend that would stop me, the kitchen certainly photographs well enough to not put me off (although I'm definitely not as fussy as some mumsnetters) and there are probably cheaper things you can do to make good if necessary.

Would the extension need planning permission? I think even if it doesn't, plans for that would possibly be the better use of time, effort and money perhaps.