Should you replace the kitchen or bathroom before selling?
A new kitchen is the most expensive thing a seller does and one of the least reliable ways to add value.
A new kitchen costs £10,000 to £30,000 and a new bathroom £5,000 to £15,000, and neither reliably adds its cost to the sale price. The market pays for condition and for space, and a kitchen that works is worth most of what a kitchen that is beautiful is worth.
That is not an argument against ever replacing them. It is an argument for establishing whether the existing one is merely dated or genuinely unusable, because the two cases have very different answers.
When replacement pays
There are situations where a new kitchen or bathroom is the right decision, and they are narrower than the kitchen industry suggests.
- The existing one is unusable — no working appliances, broken units, or a bathroom that cannot be used
- The layout is so poor that buyers cannot see how to live with it, which suppresses the price more than the room's condition
- The property is at the top of its local market, where buyers expect a finished specification
- The room is the property's main weakness and is deterring viewings or producing low offers
When the cheaper option wins
For a dated but functional kitchen or bathroom, inexpensive updates achieve most of the effect for a fraction of the cost. Buyers respond to cleanliness, tidiness and the absence of obvious problems far more than to specification.
- Replace handles, taps and light fittings, which modernise a room for a few hundred pounds
- Re-seal around baths, sinks and worktops, which removes the most obvious sign of age
- Re-grout tiles, or paint over tile with specialist paint where replacement is too expensive
- Declutter worktops completely, and remove everything personal
- Deep clean the oven, the extractor and the fridge, which buyers do inspect
- Replace a broken appliance rather than the whole kitchen
The calculation
The comparison is between the cost of replacement and the price uplift it produces. On a £250,000 house, a £20,000 kitchen would need to add £20,000 to the price to break even, plus the interest on the money and the delay in selling. That is a high bar.
The money is usually better spent on the items with a more reliable return: redecoration, repairs to visible defects, decluttering and improving the exterior. These cost a fraction as much and affect every photograph.
Common questions
- Does a new kitchen add value to a house?
- Usually less than it costs. The market pays a premium for condition rather than specification, so a functional kitchen in good order achieves most of the uplift of a high-specification one. If the existing kitchen is genuinely unusable, replacing it will pay; if it is merely dated, inexpensive updates and thorough cleaning return far more per pound spent.
- What should I do to a dated kitchen before selling?
- Replace handles and taps, re-seal the worktops and around the sink, re-grout or paint the tiles, deep clean the oven and extractor, and clear every worktop completely. These cost a few hundred pounds in total and remove the signs of age that buyers actually notice.