Reduce the price and let the buyer do as he or she pleases, would be my first choice.

I don't like wood kitchens as a rule. Not what I would choose. Yours looks excellent. I would be concerned your plans will cheapen it. Maybe adding the hardwood flooring is the easiest choice since it's what anyone would do. My second choice would be to paint the cabintes white, but if you odn't spend a goodly sum on that it risks not looking as good.

Zalco is absolutely right. In that price range no matter what you do it will be torn out and redone, and bid on as a home with a kitchen that must be torn out and redone.

If you must do something replace the granite with quartz or quartzite and add a backsplash. That's all! And make sure it all matches.

new counters....some hardware w polished metal ......roman blinds or cellular shades at windows if you want to do something. But doing none of the above is a valid course also. A different harmony between counters hardware and windows could be easy to do and change the look but what you have is a blank slate so anyone can do as they wish .

Thanks everyone. It’s hard to tell but the tile floors are the most ‘disliked’ by the potential buyers last go-around. It’s some rough stone that is cream colored and always looks dirty by design. That could become a better tile? or go to hardwoods but then I’m afraid it’s too much brown... leading to needing to professionally paint cabinets.

I think the bright white hutch is the problem. Was it done recently? The contrast really dates the rest of the space.

I would do two things...

1) I'd paint the hutch a very dark green. It is a current color, relates to your counters, and will look better with your stained cabinets.

2) People might complain about the tile, but I think it's the grout that makes is look dirty. Change the grout to something that matches the mid to light tones in the tile.

I wouldn't do anything else.

Here is kind of the opposite scheme of what I'm suggesting--a green kitchen with a stained hutch instead of a stained kitchen with a painted hutch--but I'd probably do a very dark green.

And here are dark cabs with wood and a tile floor. From a british designer instagram a month ago...

I think the new grout is too white/ too much contrast, but this image gives you an idea what just a grout change can do:

For a $1mm+ buyers, the kitchen and tile floors are the most outdated. But I'm not sure I would touch it. A $1mm+ buyer is most likely going to want to customize themselves. I'd drop the price and appeal to the buyer that has the $$ to do the remodel.

well if it is just the floor. pull it . get a quote for vinyl plank in a beautiful slate look and carry thru to the dining zone . Then put an area rug under the table. Runners or mats in the kitchen. I thought the dining zone looked a little barren.....Could see a more eclectic chandelier or light fixture...colorful runner..large flower display on the table....do you have a piece of art to hang right of window in dining room?

If the goal is to sell the home and get the most $ you can, then keep it as is. It is highly unlikely you will get a full return on $ put into updating. Sure you may get higher offers if you updated, but it will usually not be higher & usually much less than what was put into it to update. Most real estate agents insist to homeowners to update this & that to get higher offers, so they can get higher commissions. Agent walks away with more money, but home seller walks away with less money due to expenses updating.

What really matters is what the sellers get in the end minus all expenses to sell it. If the house is overpriced, which you can tell by the foot traffic, then lower the price some & sell it. If you have an agent who's advice seems more insistent on getting higher sales price rather than your overall bank account interests, tell them to focus on your goals or hit the road. If you are selling without an agent, lower price 3% (the savings of not having an agent pass on to buyer) & offer buyer agents 3% or more & make sure it is in the MLS to attract more buyers

a "bad" floor will detract from an otherwise perfectly fine kitchen or any room for that matter. It's hard to tell from the images but in person the salmon shade of tile, especially if it has a "dirty" cast to the coloring may be a significant enough issue. Just replacing a floor is not that difficult.....I would go and look for some sale pricing.

The flooring is my least favorite part of the kitchen. We often do painted cabinetry in our project in lieu of wood but your wood cabinets look pretty darn good and coordinate well with the stainless steel appliances.

Is this high-end for your locale?
Then deep-clean and price it to sell.

Thank you. My house is in the middle of the range in a high end neighborhood. Tear downs are $650k and new builds are $1.8mm and this is right in the middle. People also really dislike doing any work in my market it seems; and will discount a price for more than the cost of upgrading it. Also, the market is slowing and I am more concerned about speed of sale. Renovated homes priced well sell much faster than dated homes priced well. If I spend $20k more (net $20k less) and sell my house immediately versus sitting on the market for 5 months, I would like that trade. Yes, @herbflavor you are correct, it is salmon hue 'dirty' look of a floor (even after steam cleaning). Would you suggest tile or hardwoods to match the floors in the 'open' family room?

Here are 'reality' pictures, excuse the mess! Those previous listing photos (from when I bought) from before are over-exposed and don't capture colors accurately. The floors were recently deep cleaned, including professional grout cleaning.

More reality photos:

Re: tile vs hardwood replacement floor. The dining zone , if you can do it might be best matched to family room. Kitchen floor in high quality vinyl plank....slate look.... wouldn't break the bank. Just measure, go to a local floor where you can get good stuff with a sale and the install and everything will be hassle free. there are so many flooring options..... I think the tile now that I see it in the last pic is decent tile....but I think the light shade might dispel people because of keeping it clean and it's a lot of a monotone, hard surface. I'd pick a resilient product for the kitchen....and the dining zone might be good if you can match the family zone.

Honestly, this house seems to have a floor plan issue and a space use issue judging from your post in 2017. I’m seeing four seating/dining areas in close proximity and two living areas. Buyers seem to be drawn to more open, flexible spaces these days. I would clear everything to resemble the listing pictures, possibly hire a stager, and price it to sell without changing a thing. The aggravation to your family of a small renovation won’t net big returns. This house needs a buyer who will renovate it completely or buy as a tear down. I’m very sorry if that seems harsh, I mean it kindly. Sometimes we are so close to a situation, we hope there is an easy solution. How long has it been on the market? Have you had any offers? Is there a highly rated stager in your area? You need someone with experience who can give you an honest assessment.

Oh for goodness sake, you're not going to put a vinyl floor in the kitchen of a million dollar listing. You are selling the house - you don't have to worry about refinishing the floors in 20 years time, just put hardwood everywhere. Yes, it will be very brown, and no, you won't get your money back.

Your kitchen was great for you - that doesn't mean it's a great kitchen.

And just because you're in a million dollar market doesn't mean your house is worth a million dollars.

If you're going to re-do it, then re-do it properly, starting with the layout. You can probably make it a million dollar listing - but generally speaking you will get a percentage out of it, less than 100% of what you put into it.

Your other choice is to market this as is to people who want to live in the area and usually can't afford to get in. Bargain hunters can be good buyers.

You don't have an island and as ridiculous as that sounds, it's going to be a problem for a lot of buyers. There's no way I'd live through a major renovation for someone else. Wouldn't a proper reno be $100,000+? Let the buyer deal with it.

If you want to "upgrade" just continue the hardwoods throughout. That's it. Any other update is likely just going to make the old parts look older. Like the bright white hutch.

Here's an attempt to convince you that just a change of grout would help your tile. I have no fancy skills to use, I just put lines on your photo.

@bens bride I agree with you about the island, you are correct about that for my market. Thank you for the light colored grout mock up. I could give that a try as a relatively cheap option and if it doesn't work, go ahead and put in new hardwoods (I have to refinish them all on the main anyway) right before I list it. Change out the hardware, new drawer pulls are needed, I agree. It is not listed currently; I have a great stager to call, and agree on the value of that, yes!

There are so many missing pieces to this equation, but I understand if you are just kicking around ideas. Once you sell, is there an affordable area within commuting distance, with a suitable floor plan, to purchase? Or will you be basically buying something affordable just to get into an area and be in the same boat? Can you make this house work for your family if it makes no sense to sell? Honestly, I am reading that you are employing unrealistic thinking for an unlikely desired outcome.
Why refinish floors before sale? We did that once before occupying, and would recommend never doing it while living in the home. Everything was dusty, and I mean everything! You can not use the floor for a decent period of time, especially with four children. That would be an allowance for the buyer to do after you’ve departed and before they move in, if they weren’t renovating.

one million dollar home is not that expensive. The floor is the issue as 1. too much of it.... 2. too light and does 3. nothing for the space. If I were looking at a 50k house in Detroit I would feel the same about that floor . Just go to a good flooring store....I would avoid the investment in hardwood except in the dining zone, esp if the sentiment is someone will rearrange all the rooms[is that really likely?] ...there are lots of great flooring products with various looks.

I love everything. It would be a mistake to paint the wood. It is so much more welcoming. The desk area to me is what dates it most. I would stage it as a beverage center adding a under cabinet fridge. Set up coffee station with cups, glassware and liquor in the upper cabinet. It really should be staged slightly to bring in life and color.

The problem with doing the hardwoods is that you will have to refinish the floors that touch it to get them to match - not ideal. I agree with the LVP in a slate color as first choice and then go from there. (change hardware too)

Consider ditching the desk for a beverage center and staging it as such. See if a under counter fridge can be slide under there by simply removing the desk drawer.

And then counter / backsplash - because of the rest of damage.

I would also replace the ceiling fan with a chandelier in the dining room and place the 4 chairs opposite each other on the long sides of the table leaving the ends open. Don't do anything major as others have said because it may be a total waste of time and money.

If you decide to invest the $$:

Change the faucets to pull downs. Maybe change sink (I can't see it, so don't know what you already have) to a single basin with integrated cutting board and drain rack.

Change the counter to a light quartz that goes well with the wood color -- I think that will help offset the "dated" tone of the wood (I liked the color as it appears in the first set of photos but in the "reality" photos it is too dark = dated). No 4" splash, either. A light colored tile backsplash, too.

When you change the counter, look to adding thoughtful touches at the sink such as an air switch for the disposal, soap dispenser, maybe instant hot water? Make sure the cabinets are well accessorized and highly functional, also; perhaps add an interior drawer or at the least have roll out trays instead of shelves. Such touches might -might- offset some of the dated elements of the cabinets like the desk and mini drawers.

Make sure that all the cabinets are cleaned also - airborne kitchen grime can darken and dull the appearance of the wood.

I would change the floors but don't know about gray for the floors, unless it is a somewhat brownish gray. Go to a flooring store and ask them about current trends - they might even have a designer who can suggest a good floor that will make the cabinets come across better. If you do hardwood and refinish the rest of the house to all matching, you need to pick a stain that, again, compliments and enhances the cabinets, not fights against it. I like a natural red oak for the bright, airy and warm feel it can give a room , but I know that lots of people don't.

I might remove the desk entirely and replace it with a classy mini island on wheels that can be staged as a coffee station, but can do double duty as needed. (It is beyond me why that kitchen would need an island, but that is what people want just because)

I've been licensed & working in the real estate & remodel business for 15+ years. It's still a sellers market. Don't waste your time & miss the sellers market. Save your money for your next home. Stage it, price it right, get on MLS, move on.

You just moved into this house two years ago, and you’re already moving again? You will be lucky not to lose your shirt without spending a dime. Much less 150K in renovations! Renovations LOSE money. They do not make money.

“My house is in the middle of the range in a high end neighborhood. Tear downs are $650k and new builds are $1.8mm and this is right in the middle.”

You mean you PRICED it in the middle. Not that it will sell at a middle price. Big difference.

If you are getting comments about the house being ”dated”, that means it is too high priced. It’s NOT a 1M house is what they are saying. It should be priced among the lower priced ones, not in the middle priced ones. Translation: at the price you are asking, they expect it to be already renovated and move in ready. A 1M house has to show like a 1M house. It doesn’t. It isn’t a 1M house. And it will cost you too much to get there. Because there are too many things to fix. In other words, those kitchen and bath renovations that you want to do will net you zero gain. You’d do them and have to stand still on pricing.

The better option is to reduce the price 100K and let the new buyer do the renovations. Or given that the market is doing tear downs, and this has so many issues, tear it down, as seems more of a market reality given it’s very odd layout problems that 150K will not fix.

Market it as that teardown. At a low enough price to generate a bidding war.

While I understand the points you are making about the real estate market, I really came here for design/aesthetic advice. Let's just pretend my original question said, 'my kitchen is aesthetically 20 years old and seems tired. Does changing just 1 or 2 things help freshen it up (and how can I do that an stay cohesive), or do I need to overhaul the whole thing to make it feel fresh again?'. (Changing flooring, changing cabinets, changing counters, some- all- or none). I agree definitely on replacing those handles, light fixture, and remodeling that dated desk space. Thanks!

For me the major issues are the tile floor and counter. I don’t think you should refinish all your floors though for showing. You would have to remove all your furniture to refinish and then deal with the fine dusty mess the sanding creates and wait for the new finish to cure before replacing furniture. For me that was 3 weeks. I agree that adding that as a concession to buyers might be much easier for you. I don’t think replacing the floors in kitchen is a good idea either because if you switched to wood - which is most likely preferred, you would need to do it when the other floors are refinished. And if new buyers want to change layout in kitchen during a remodel the floors could become an issue since they might need to add more flooring under existing cabinets. Best bet at this juncture is to try to change the grout color. Not sure I would want to spend thousands on replacing counter in your position as the next owner could come in and decide to rip it all out. Best bet is to leave as is and start with a slightly reduced price.

Yes thank you. The grout color, of course. It was mentioned before as well with some good examples. I have a company scheduled for next week to discuss the grout actually.

I think there is a product out there to cover your grout and freshen it up. I have no idea what it’s called or where to find it though. Kind of like applying a thin layer of color with a marker

Had Sir Grout out today for a consult. I think I will give them a shot. They put down an example of what the grout will change to- worth trying and seeing if it will make my floors look better! (along with a deep clean).

rgrindrod as I’ve seen you have several discussions going on, what is your plan, to sell or stay?

It is a 'love it or list it' dynamic in my house right now, if you have seen the show.

Well, then, what parts of it do you love? What do you want to change? What isn't meeting your needs, either functionally or aesthetically? or do you just want - change? or is it really all about getting the best offers possible?