When you are selling your house, the way potential buyers perceive your kitchen can either make or break a sale. If you feel you need to increase your kitchen's appeal, use one or more of the following tips to easily spruce up your kitchen before showing your house.

Make Your Counters and Appliances Shine

A shiny kitchen is a clean one. When your counters and appliances sparkle, they also reflect the light, helping to open up the space and make it look bigger.

Before every house showing, make your kitchen sparkle using a homemade cleaner made with white distilled vinegar and lemon juice. Both ingredients help cut through grease and grime. The vinegar also adds a shine, while the lemon gives the cleaner a fresh scent.

To make the cleaner, mix together a cup each of vinegar and water in a plastic spray bottle. Then, add two tablespoons of lemon juice. Shake vigorously to mix the ingredients, then spray the mixture on any surface you want to clean. 

After wiping the cleaner off with paper towels, use a clean cloth to buff the surfaces. Use a cloth diaper or chamois cloth for buffing, since either one of these materials is lint free and will not leave dust all over your kitchen.

Replace the Cabinet Hardware

Another way to spruce up your kitchen is to give your cabinets a facelift. You can accomplish this by replacing the old handles and knobs with new hardware. This change is especially important if your cabinets are missing handles or have mismatched knobs. You want to create a look of symmetry in your kitchen.

When replacing your hardware, you do not have to spend a lot of money. As long as the knobs and handles accent and coordinate with your cabinets, you can get away with cheaper ones so you do not break your budget.

Put a Loaf of Bread in the Oven

Since the kitchen is the center of the home and used for cooking delicious delicacies, you want to relay that sense to potential buyers through their sense of smell.

Before a buyer shows up to view your home, put a loaf of bread in the oven. Not only does the scent make the kitchen more appealing, but the aroma will flow throughout the entire house, creating a feeling of being home.

If you are not proficient at breadmaking, you can use a shortcut. Unbaked bread dough can be found in your grocer's freezer department. Since the hard work is already done for you, all you need do is put the loaf in a bread pan, and put it in the oven before showtime.  

Using the above simple tips can help improve the ambiance in your kitchen, increasing its appeal to potential buyers. For more tips on improving your home's appearance before showing it, contact real estate agents who deal in houses for sale to discuss specific ways to increase your home's saleability that are specific to your situation.