How to stage a kitchen to sell: steps, a checklist and the photos

Why the kitchen matters to buyers

In NAR's 2025 Profile of Home Staging, buyers' agents rated the kitchen the third most important room to stage, after the living room and the primary bedroom: 23% called staging it very important and another 28% somewhat important. Among sellers' agents who stage, 68% include the kitchen.

Buyers look at three things in a kitchen: how much counter space there is, how much storage there is, and whether it looks looked-after. A Dallas agent quoted by HomeLight says one of the top complaints she hears from buyers is that the kitchen is too small. Almost every staging step below is about making the space you already have visible.

Step 1: Clear the counters

Take everything off. Then put back only what you choose to show, not what you use. HomeLight's advice is that anything you put back is "for the purposes of staging, not storage."

• Put away: the toaster, coffee maker, kettle, blender, knife block, paper-towel holder, utensil crock, chargers, mail and paperwork.
• If you still live there: clear one cabinet near the outlet for the coffee maker and toaster so you can use them and put them back in a minute before each showing.
• Leave out two or three things, on purpose: a bowl of lemons or green apples, a plant or a few stems in a vase, a wooden cutting board, a couple of good cookbooks. Group them; don't spread them along the counter.

Step 2: Depersonalize the fridge and walls

Take every magnet, photo, school drawing, calendar and takeout menu off the fridge, and store them in one bag in a drawer. Remove wall hangings with names or slogans, monogrammed towels and pet bowls. The goal, in the words of the agent HomeLight quotes, is less of you and enough room for buyers to see themselves.

Step 3: Clean what buyers open

Buyers open the fridge, the oven, the cabinets and the pantry during showings. Clean the inside of each, not just the fronts.

• Fridge inside and out: throw away old leftovers and expired items, and wipe every shelf (Virtuance's tips put this first).
• Oven door and inside, stovetop, range-hood filter, microwave.
• Sink and faucet, including hard-water marks; leave the sink empty and dry.
• Cabinet fronts, handles, backsplash, and the top of the fridge.
• Floor, including under the edge of the cabinets.
• Take out the trash and recycling; avoid strong cooking smells before showings, and skip heavy air fresheners (Virtuance warns both can put buyers off).

Step 4: Organize the cabinets and pantry

Box what you don't use every week and store it out of the house or in the garage, so shelves look about half full. Line up what stays: same-direction labels, like with like. Baskets or crates make a crowded pantry look deliberate. Under the sink, remove everything but a few cleaning products, and check for leaks while you are there.

Step 5: Light it

A kitchen that looks dark looks small. Before showings and photos:

• Replace every dead bulb, including under-cabinet lights, the hood light and pendants.
• Use one bulb color in every kitchen fixture, and match the room next to it if the kitchen is open to it; mixed warm and cool bulbs show up clearly in photos.
• Open blinds and curtains fully. For the photos, take the window screens off: a New York interior designer quoted by HomeLight says screens block 40% of the light coming through a window.
• Replace a dated ceiling fixture only if it is very visible and cheap to swap; Virtuance lists updating old light fixtures as an affordable refresh.

Step 6: Small fixes, not a remodel

Fix what is cheap and shows in photos and in a two-minute walk-through. HomeLight notes that replacing kitchen cabinets costs nearly $6,000 on average, citing HomeAdvisor, and that refacing them still costs thousands; paint and hardware cost a fraction of that.

• Hardware. New matching knobs and pulls change the whole room. Pick ones that fit the existing holes so you don't have to fill and repaint.
• Paint. Worn or dated cabinet doors can be painted; use a hard finish such as satin or semigloss. Neutral walls (white, light gray, soft beige, warm off-white, in Virtuance's list) make a kitchen look larger and brighter.
• Repairs. Drippy faucets, loose doors and drawers, a cracked switch plate, failed caulk around the sink: buyers notice them and read them as signs of bigger problems.
• Floor. Replace worn kitchen mats with a simple runner, or leave the floor bare.

A stager can do this list with you in a single visit; see home staging services for what a consultation includes. For the rest of the house, see how to stage a house for sale.

Step 7: Stage an eat-in area or island

If the kitchen has a table or an island, show how it's used. Virtuance suggests defining a dining area with a table and a hanging light, and, in an open plan, a rug under the living-room furniture to separate the zones. Professional stagers keep it light: Lemondrop Home's staging packages give the kitchen only accessories and counter stools if necessary.

• Two or three matching stools tucked under the island, not a full row.
• A simple centerpiece on the table; no full place settings in a small kitchen.
• If the eat-in area is empty and you can't furnish it, a virtually staged photo of it can show the use; label it as virtually staged (see AI photo editing and MLS rules).

Kitchen staging checklist

How to photograph the kitchen

• Angle. Stand in a corner or a doorway and shoot across the room so the counters, the island and the main appliances are in one frame. Take a second photo from the opposite side if the kitchen is large or L-shaped.
• Height. Hold the phone lower than you would in other rooms, so you look across the counters rather than down on them, and keep it level so cabinets stay straight. Our guide on how to take pictures of a room gives the height for each room.
• Lights on or off. Turn on every light, including under-cabinet lights, and open the blinds. If the overhead lights cast a strong color next to daylight from the window, try one shot with the ceiling lights off and the under-cabinet lights on, and keep the one where the counters look truest.
• Details. Closed cabinet doors, dishwasher shut, chairs pushed in, stools evenly spaced, no towel on the oven handle.
• One clean detail shot of a nice finish, such as a range, a farmhouse sink or a stone counter, helps; leave the drawers closed.

For the whole home, our real estate photography tips cover order, light and the number of photos.

Photographing it with October

October is an iPhone app that guides you through the staged kitchen and every other room: it shows you where to stand and keeps the phone level. From that capture an AI image model makes the finished listing photos, and you can add a walkthrough video; results usually come back within a few hours. It costs $49 a place for photos or $99 with the walkthrough, and your first place is free. See pricing.

Step by step

1. Clear the counters

   Take everything off, store small appliances, and put back only two or three chosen items, grouped.

2. Depersonalize

   Remove magnets, photos, calendars and named wall hangings from the fridge and walls.

3. Clean what buyers open

   Fridge, oven, microwave, sink, cabinet fronts and floor; throw out expired food and take out the trash.

4. Organize cabinets and pantry

   Box what you don't use weekly so shelves look about half full.

5. Light it

   Replace dead bulbs, use one bulb color, open the blinds and take window screens off for photos.

6. Make small fixes

   New matching hardware, paint on worn doors, fix drips and loose doors. Don't remodel.

7. Stage the eat-in area

   A few stools at the island, a simple centerpiece on the table.

8. Photograph it

   From a corner, phone level and lower than in other rooms, every light on.

Questions