Staging a Small Kitchen Effectively without Breaking the Bank
Kitchen staging is a big must for homesellers, but if your home has a smaller kitchen then you do need to be a little cleverer – and maybe even trickier – with your staging techniques in order to help ensure that potential homebuyers leave with impression that your kitchen is cozy, comfortably and functional rather than terribly tiny.
The Advantages of a Smaller Kicthen
As you look around for kitchen staging inspiration you will inevitably encounter pictures of huge kitchen spaces filled with shiny stainless steel appliances, miles of granite counter tops and high end custom cabinetry. Then you look around your own rather smallish kitchen and realize that even if you had ever had the $50,000 to pay for these kinds of upgrades, they simply wouldn’t have worked in your home anyway.
There are actually some advantages to having a smaller kitchen that larger spaces cannot boast. In a smaller kitchen almost everything you need is in within easy reach and because your space is limited you tend to not have so much of the extraneous clutter that you really do not need to complicate your cooking endeavors.
A small kitchen will only work well if it is properly organized though and that its layout makes the most of every square foot of available space. Here are some tips for making taking advantage of the opportunity to stage your small kitchen to make the most of every inch:
Cabinets – Efficient kitchen cabinets are an essential element in the layout of any kitchen – big or small. In a smaller space you should consider adding full height kitchen cabinets wherever possible so that you have as much more storage space (something that no one ever seems to have quite enough of)
These cabinets can also be a great way to make a previously unused corner of your kitchen useful as they can come in some very narrow styles that take up very little in the way of floor space. And the good news? Home stores like Lowes do offer inexpensive MDF standalone units of this kind that should not break your staging budget.
Counter Tops – To stop your kitchen counter tops from looking cluttered, which can make a small kitchen look even smaller, keep only the essential, use them everyday appliances like a coffee maker or toaster on them all the time and store everything else away, especially at showing times.
If your kitchen gives the impression that a buyer is really going to be short on counter space for preparing larger meals an inexpensive butcher block island on wheels may be the answer. Whether you leave it behind after the home is sold is up to you but as a staging prop it’s a great way to help convince buyers that yours a kitchen that can met their needs.
Colour and Lighting – The colours and the lighting scheme used in a smaller kitchen can either add to its cramped appearance or serve to open it up and give the illusion of extra space. A good kitchen lighting system is created in layers , a combination of task and accent lighting that makes a beautiful whole.
Don’t skimp on the under cabinet lighting either as they take up no additional space but can just the right amount of extra illumination you need. In a pinch, for staging purposes the kind of stick up under cabinet lights you can find in home stores – and even dollar stores sometimes – can work just fine.
Finally, if you feel the space needs a few licks of new paint a word about colour. Dark colours do not work well in small kitchen as they only serve to close it in even further. If you cannot stand the thought of four rather bland neutral walls pick one, paint it a bold shade and then paint the other walls a calmer, complimentary light color. You will get the shot of interest you want – and will impress potential homebuyers – without making your small kitchen feel even smaller.
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