When preparing a home for sale, the right kitchen renovation can add enormous appeal and significant value. Potential home buyers form emotional connections to a property if they can visualise themselves living there – so how can you create a kitchen to capture their imagination?
A new report from the Housing Industry Association estimates that around 213,000 kitchens were installed in Australian homes in the last financial year.
While over-capitalisation is a risk for all home renovations, undercapitalisation can also compromise re-sale value. “When people walk into a house, they’re doing their sums,” explains Travis Dean, a director of Melbourne kitchen design, manufacturing and installation company, Cantilever Interiors. “If it needs a new kitchen or bathroom, they’re adding $20-to-$30,000 to the purchase price.”
Cantilever Interiors believes a kitchen should have the craftsmanship and visual appeal to take it through the decades – no matter the budget – yet the company is often asked to replace kitchens that are a mere five-to-ten years old.
So you can avoid making the same mistake, Cantilever Interiors has put together five tips to ensure maximum home buyer appeal.
1. Classic palette
A pared-back colour palette ensures timeless appeal. White, for example, gives a kitchen a minimalist and clean-lined look and can also makes a space look bigger. In short, it helps a kitchen to feel inviting, fresh, light and bright.
2. Materials matter
The choice of materials is essential to the quality and appeal of a kitchen. While materials should always reflect the value of the property, they don’t always require significant investment. Re-constituted stone benchtops or quality white laminate with ply edging are durable, stylish options for different budgets.
3. Craftsmanship is key
Homebuyers have an eye for quality. Cabinets must be millimetre perfect and refined design detailing, such as shadow lines, make a big impression on how well a kitchen does or doesn’t sit in a space. The design process is also important – off-the-shelf products don’t allow the customisation required to fit a kitchen perfectly into a space.
4. Clever components
Clever, space-saving kitchen components, such a swing-out pantry, corner cupboard storage systems and other organisation inserts, show the increasingly design-savvy buyer the thought and quality that’s been invested.
5. Open spaces
Shadow boxes (open display shelves) are a simple design element that allows the new homebuyer to express their own personal style. They can add a touch of warmth and contrast to a kitchen through placement of interchangeable potted herbs, utensils, ornaments, crockery or cook books for a pop of colour.
For more information visit Cantilever Interiors.