13 Outdated Kitchen Features That Are Tanking Your Home’s Value

Home sellers, buyers, and real estate agents have different ideas about kitchen remodels before selling a home. But what renovations actually affect the bottom line?

An appealing kitchen is one of the most critical factors in home sales, but unfortunately, the size and layout have the biggest impact on tapping into home equity. 

Unfortunately, those are two of the most expensive and challenging things to change, so short of a complete remodel, what key changes should home sellers consider before putting their home up for sale?

We’ve rounded up 13 big and small things that might be tanking your home’s value.

We can argue all day about the pros and cons of various countertop materials, but laminated particle board is the one thing everybody sees and thinks, “Well, we’re going to have to replace that.”

It ages fast and poorly, so choose a durable material that matches any decor preference. You won’t know the personal tastes of the next owner.

Real estate agents are quick to suggest updating appliances, but outdated high-end appliances that work very well are often better than “upgrading” to something newer in the basest, cheapest model.

If you’re considering selling your home, you should evaluate your appliances based on quality ​​rather than newness. Agents want the quick visual “wow” of new and matching appliances, which may help move a home quickly but won’t necessarily increase your profit.

The floor is an omnipresent and inescapable visual in every kitchen, so you want it to look nice. This doesn’t necessarily mean upgrading the whole floor, but it should mean fixing what is already there.

If the kitchen has vinyl flooring, it’s easy and cheap to replace it with new, updated vinyl, which is the current trend. Wood or tile floors would be a much costlier renovation, but fixing broken planks or tiles can recapture lost value without the significant investment of redoing the whole floor.

Those deep, honey-brown cabinets throughout the kitchen send an overwhelming visual message akin to “my grandparents chose this.” 

Lighter, airier kitchen decor is the modern preference — but that doesn’t necessarily mean ripping out the whole cabinetry unit. If the only problem is the color, that’s a much less expensive fix to freshen up the style through paint, new doors, or hardware. 

If the cabinets show functional signs of age, it might be worth upgrading to something newer.

Busy or old-fashioned tile backsplashes can make the kitchen feel cluttered and outdated, and exposed grout can look perpetually dirty from stains.

Homeowners want a decorative look that is also easy to keep clean. Consider switching to larger glass tiles and epoxy grout, which will not stain as easily as traditional grout. Whoever cleans the kitchen will thank you.

It can be tempting to skimp on lighting, but that’s a mistake for a room where people use knives and fire. Upgrading light fixtures and adding LEDs or spotlights beneath cabinets can transform the kitchen space and is unlikely to be regretted by the next owner.

Nearly all kitchen appliances need to be plugged into an outlet, and it’s a major frustration if the kitchen doesn’t have enough conveniently located electrical outlets.

Adding a few places to plug things in for power is a relatively inexpensive upgrade (usually between $130 and $300 per outlet), showing potential buyers that functionality was prioritized.

It might seem like a waste of money to repaint when the new owners may paint again, but there are two good reasons to do it anyway.

The first is that it will make the room look newer in a way that just cleaning the walls won’t. 

The second and perhaps more important reason is that an unpopular kitchen color can knock a couple thousand off the home’s value. Zillow says a red kitchen gets about $2,300 less on offers, and mint green gets $1,830 less.

Sometimes, a feature sounds better in theory than in practice, like a microwave drawer. According to Zillow, listings with this feature sell for about 1% less than homes with traditional microwave placement options.

Unless the kitchen is enormous, an island is just an annoying and unmovable object constantly in the way. 

It may not be worth removing on its own, but if you’re already planning to remodel, it might be worth considering for elimination.

Seeing a cheap, builder-grade faucet on a sink may leave potential buyers wondering where else costs were cut. Plus, it can give the kitchen a low-rent vibe that nobody likes.

Upgrading the whole sink might be costly, but a quick swap for a high-end faucet can make the essential part of the sink feel luxurious.

There is a wide-ranging debate over open-concept spaces, but tearing down a wall to make a kitchen bigger could be beneficial if it is too small. Open concepts may be divisive, but nobody likes a tiny kitchen.

Nothing says, “My house is old and possibly full of asbestos,” like a popcorn ceiling. This renovation is best done when the house isn’t occupied, so the subsequent owners will likely be grateful for this upgrade.

The most important thing to remember when considering upgrading your kitchen is that functionality should take priority over aesthetics.

While it’s impossible to guess what taste some future stranger who purchases your home will have, it’s guaranteed that everybody wants things to work correctly. The last thing a home seller wants is to put money into changes that the buyer will immediately toss.

One smart homeowner move is focusing on widely unanimous remodeling choices. New homeowners often want the opportunity to infuse their own personality into the aesthetic changes and will silently curse you for years to come if repairs are ignored in favor of a quick makeover to hide it.