Don't you have a drawer nearer the range for the tools? If Not, then that certainly would. make a buyer think twice about the storage in the kitchen. Time to declutter!

What about a decorative canister with the tools in it.

Like the one in the corner of this kitchen.

[Eclectic Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/eclectic-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2104)

I would put the porcelain container back on the counter and fill it with the big stuff and make sure the drawer operates proper. I would put a coffee maker on the counter as well. And maybe a cookie jar.

As for the buyer wondering about your sanity or practicality - don't worry about that / you are trying to sell your home, not your personality. I hope the rest of your place is not lacking normal life needs. Clutter and dirt and garbage are one thing...a porcelain utensil holder is okay.

I think staging is a waste of money. Good luck with living in your staged home.

Your stager is giving you good advice.
The picture above screams "cluttered", and would be very distracting to buyers. It is fine to keep the house like this when living there, but not when selling.

I think the stager is right. Put the stuff away when potential buyers come in and bring it out to cook.

The object of the exercise is to sell the house, not demonstrate how you cook.

This post was edited by sushipup on Sun, Jan 5, 14 at 10:33

Some stagers recommend strategically placed objects, see link below, including ceramic canisters with utensils.

You can also google image "staged kitchen" and see what they look like.

Here is a link that might be useful: how to stage kitchen

I think staging can help sell a home. It helps portray a lifestyle that one can have in a home.

Here's an interesting example. Friends bought a house with a pool. The pool area had a commercial soda machine. They thought this was so cool! It created a vacation feel in the backyard. Yet, when they bought the home, they wound up dismantling it because the cost to run it was too high. But during the process they couldn't stop talking about that soda machine.

Sometimes people have unusual spaces that need to addressed.
I wouldn't go overboard with staging, your kitchen should not look cluttered, but it can look like someone lives there.

People looking to buy your house generally AREN'T thinking of your "living habits" and if you're crazy to have certain utensils in one place or another. ;-)

That said, a nice clean decorative crock with a few high quality utensils isn't an eyesore on a clean counter. The number of utensils in the picture that debrak2008 shows looks cluttered to me, so I would pare it down.

If any of your drawers aren't opening and closing easily because they are overstuffed with things, you need to pare down what's in there and put the lesser used objects in storage somewhere that makes sense to be a "storage area"...be that in a basement, attic, garage, etc. Almost all of us have things in our drawers that are in there because we use them every once in a while and we want them, but they aren't every day use items...those should be boxed up and out of the way. If your drawers and closets are packed with stuff, people see that as not having very much storage space - it's better for them to see less stuff in the drawers.

A nice small bowl of fruit is appropriate to have out. A cleaned up coffee maker is fine as well. One way to think of it is as if you have company coming over and they will be living in your house for a bit without you being there. You would want the kitchen to be "equipped", but without so much stuff that it would be difficult for them to find what they need. You want it to look clean and inviting so that they feel at ease.

Good luck - I hope your house sells quickly!

I wanted to clarify I was NOT recommending recreating that photo. I only wanted to show ONE decorative crock with some utensils in it. It was the first photo I found.

I would be more interested in a house that had a crock with some spatulas then one with drawers that were jam packed with stuff. To me jam packed drawers mean "not enough storage". A pretty crock with stuff just says "pretty".

This post was edited by debrak2008 on Sun, Jan 5, 14 at 12:05

Thanks for the clarification, Debra.

I agree with the stager that it is best to put away your utensils. Having them sitting out on the counter would tend to suggest a lack of drawer space for such things (which from your comments seems to be the case...hardly something you want to highlight.)

She said we could keep the kitchen aid mixer on the counter--everything else out of sight. So the crock for utensils is long gone to the retirement place. We also shipped a number of kitchen boxes to ourselves over Christmas. I do still keep going back to the open boxes here to get things that I need that I had removed, thinking I could do without them. Sighâ¦.We go on the market in 3 weeks.