The question of whether to renovate before selling is one of the most common we are asked, and the kitchen is almost always at the centre of it. The honest answer is that it depends, and the factors it depends on are worth understanding before any decisions are made.
A well-considered kitchen can add meaningful value to a property in the right price range. For homes in the upper brackets, where buyers expect a certain level of finish and are comparing your property against others with well-appointed kitchens, a dated or worn kitchen can suppress both interest and offers. In these cases, investment in the kitchen is not cosmetic. It is commercial.
The goal is to present the home at its best, not to second-guess what a buyer's taste will be.
The counterargument, which is equally valid, is that buyers at every price point tend to have their own opinions about kitchens. A kitchen that you install at significant expense may not be the kitchen your buyer would have chosen. If they intend to renovate it themselves, which many buyers at the higher end do, your investment will not be reflected in what they offer. They are pricing the house, not your choices.
Our general position is this: if a kitchen is genuinely poor, worn, dated or in a condition that will put buyers off before they have properly looked at the rest of the house, it is worth addressing before marketing. If it is simply not recently updated, that is a different calculation. We are always happy to give an honest view on which category a specific kitchen falls into.