New kitchen to sell or not - it's really bad

[irishmist]

Worried that our kitchen is so bad we need to.
We hope to put our house on the market in March but debating whether it's worth installing a new but cheap kitchen to sell.
DH thinks it's not worth it but I'm worried our awful kitchen will put viewers off - laminate peeling off etc - grim.
We did other work in the house - it's the only room that lets the house down, I think
I haven't tidied the kitchen so please ignore mess.

Loose the 199Os blinds- nothing says 1996 like a scalloped blind.
Declutter

That doesn't look bad at all. Before I looked at the picture I was expecting some 1960s lino and huge lumps missing everywhere! It won't be to everyone's taste, but nothing ever is, it looks functional enough that someone could move in and use it while they chose a new one. There's no way I'd spend ££££ replacing that for something that might be ripped out again within a year.

It's not too bad at all. I wouldn't bother with a paint job, just clean it up as much as possible and adjust the doors so they fit properly.

@TheHoptimist

Loose the 199Os blinds- nothing says 1996 like a scalloped blind. Declutter

I don't think it is a scalloped blind, it's part of the kitchen.

@dreamkitchenhelp - furniture at end of table is a dresser/type thing - bit like this -probably not to everyone's taste. The mess is left over Christmas biscuits & sweets.

@showofhands - it is part of kitchen

Too much hassle and expensive so leave it as it is. Its a big kitchen. You could swap for a smaller dining table and have a big vase of white lilies on it to improve the overall look.

No don’t replace it, take the money off the price.

Dress it for sale - mostly to make it lighter and brighter. People will be put off if they think the room is gloomy.

Remove the black painted sideboard at the end

Move the table down towards the end and get a light coloured table cloth eg pale grey not white for your pine table.

Turn on the light under the extractor for the photos and viewings , same with under cabinet lights if you have them.

More powerful bulbs in the ceiling light

Put a set of battery powered white Micro LED Christmas lights on top of your units ( concealed ) and turn on for photos and viewings. They should be subtle so you are not really aware of them.

Remove the wooden pelmets from the windows

Get a large ( 270 x 340 ) light coloured outdoor / indoor rug and put it under your kitchen table to cover some of the black floor.

Clear all worktops and window sills and dress with small plants and kitchen appropriate decorative objects eg attractive kitchen jars, wooden chopping boards, bowl of fruit, granite mortar and pestle, coffee pot.

I do mean everything BTW - draining rack, washing up liquid, tea towels , bins, recycling. I don’t care what your husband says.

Put a large mirror on the RH wall and remove the too small too high picture.

This will cost you about £300 and you can take the new table cloth, mirror and rug to your new house.

Not sure about the floor plan but if there is a dining room next door I imagine someone would like to knock down walls.

Don't fit a new kitchen, absolutely won't be to the new buyers taste.

Is the rest of the house recently done and immaculate?

Can that one door be sorted out? It's a bit wonky.

Don't replace a kitchen with a cheap one. They'll only rip that out and it'll mean more waste being created.

Wow - some really helpful info. Definity, won't replace now but will clean, repaint walls and dress for sale - and maybe send an after pic
@Imabouttoexplode - it's not ready to go on market yet - we are in the middle of painting rooms.

After many many months of house viewings this is very far from a bad kitchen. Very glad you've decided to leave it as it's really frustrating seeing a house and knowing you can't justify ripping out a brand new kitchen you don't like.

1)it’s not that bad 2) a serious buyer will see past that and want to put their own kitchen in 3) even if you put in a new one it might end up being ripped out. That is not environmentally friendly!

Depends what the market is like in your area but we’ve been house hunting for 8 months and here you can put the most run down house possible on the market and it will probably sell. We looked at a house that had an ancient kitchen with all the doors quite literally hanging off.

It looks ok to me, maybe paint it a lighter neutral colour with French Chic type paint if you can be bothered, otherwise I’d just lighten it up as much as possible and possibly get rid of the blind as it’s a little old fashioned. I love the chest of drawers btw!

id prefer to sort my own kitchen design and colour palette

www.which.co.uk/news/2021/07/thinking-of-painting-your-kitchen-cabinets-heres-what-you-need-to-know/

you could paint the cupboards as a compromise to update, and put in new worktops

@TableSetting

I’d prefer to install my own to my own style and taste once I’d moved in.

This.

I think in the 20 houses we have viewed, maybe two of them looked like they had been tidied and decorated for viewings. The rest mostly looked like we had turned up unannounced

It really isn't that bad, I read OP before looking at pics and thought it was going to be horrendous. It wouldn't put me off as long as the rest of the house was ok. Even a lower budget kitchen won't exactly be cheap and as pp said it could be a massive waste of money if new owners move in and rip it straight out.

Op, I hope you don’t mind but I lightened one of the pics for you. People are commenting on it without being able to see it properly.

I’d say yes it’s dated and in poor repair and the tiles aren’t helping. It’s a lovely sized sunny room though.

It may put some people off yes, not everyone is wishing to replace a kitchen and the house will need to be priced to take into account replacement, and replacing it will be cheaper than the amount you need to knock off asking.

Some folks won’t mind and will be happy to replace, if asking price accounts for it, other folks won’t want to do the work. There is no one answer.

@Bluntness100 - thank you!!
It is a bright room.

I won't paint it but will price to take into consideration.
Dated and in need of repair is spot on,

I think it’s lovely! Dressed, as a pp suggested, and many viewers -me- would take that on as is, with a few tweaks. Not everyone is wedded to the gloss/grey/sleek vibe!

I would remove the wooden pelmet things and maybe put in a more up to date cooker hood, but that's about it...

those tiles would be ok with a paintover in a lighter updated colour