Karla Krengel is the local representative for Greenfield Custom Cabinetry (Photo credit: George Burns)

Every week, we ask a real estate professional for their Short List, a collection of tips and recommendations on an essential topic in real estate. This week, we talked with Karla Krengel, the local representative for Greenfield Custom Cabinetry, on how agents can understand kitchens better to sell their clients’ homes.

9. White kitchens – There are a whole lot of them out there lately! That’s because when we are in a down economy and people aren’t sure if they are going to move or stay in their homes, white is a safe choice; so, many kitchens remodeled during this sort of economy end up with white cabinets. When selling a home with a white kitchen, share with potential buyers that a white kitchen is timeless and tends to hold its style and value longer.

8. From now, every kitchen you walk into, run your hand over the cabinetry’s surface. You’ll begin to be able to discern a difference in finishes, which will give you an idea of the quality of the product.

7. Open the drawers! Dovetailed wood drawers are a sign of quality. Rub your hand over the dovetail and a smooth finish here will also be a sign of quality.

6. Soft close and slow close cabinetry. Around five years ago, soft close on cabinet doors & slow close drawers became standard offering on your higher-end cabinets. It also tends to be offered as an upgrade on lower-end cabinets; however, just because a cabinet doesn’t have slow/soft close, doesn’t mean it isn’t a luxury brand – the cabinet may have just been made before that offering.

If you want the cabinets to have the soft close feature in the home you are selling, check with the cabinet or hinge manufacturer. For example, Blum hinges have a part which can be retrofitted easily on top of the current hinge to provide the soft close. You do not need to add the soft close part to both door hinges; one per average sized cabinet door will work just fine.

5. Open up and take a peek inside the base cabinets. Half-depth shelves (meaning the shelf does not extend from the back to the front of the cabinet) in a base cabinet is a sure sign of a lower-end cabinet.

4. Just because a cabinet line isn’t offered at the Mart, doesn’t mean it isn’t a great offering. My family has been in the kitchen and bath industry for a long time, and there are a lot of great quality cabinet lines available today.

3. What does the luxury consumer desire in appliances? It’s the built-in coffee maker and the steam oven. In refrigerators, the most desired and top-selling configuration is the French door refrigerator, which is two doors on top for the fridge and the freezer drawer on the bottom. And that runs from higher-end price point kitchens to lower-end price points.

2. If it fits – Use the word “transitional,” which is a hot buzzword in the design industries but not one heard as often by consumers. Transitional styling is what is in the middle of traditional and contemporary styles. According to the National Kitchen & Bath Association’s 2014 Style Report, that is the most requested style preference by today’s consumer.

The funny thing is, consumers will walk into kitchen design showrooms with photos, or explain what they want, and they never use the word “transitional.” Normally, it’s not until the designer explains the term does the consumer begin to use it. To discern transitional style, you will notice cleaner lines and not as much applied moulding on the cabinet doors, for example. There could be a slab door cabinet front used, but the design is highlighted with some corbels that have detail.

1. We want texture, whether actual or perceived – It seems all the time we spend in the starkness of cyberspace has left a textural void in our lives, and we want our cabinetry and homes to reflect warmth via texture; so, it is being asked for in cabinetry.

Karla Krengel is a third generation kitchen and bath industry entrepreneur. She represents Greenfield Custom Cabinetry from Indianapolis-based The Corsi Group, and is one of 12 people the Jenn-Air Appliance brand brings in from around the country as part of their Design Advisory Council, which helps guide the brand as super premium. Feel free to contact Karla at Karla@Krengel.com with any questions on cabinetry, design, or kitchen and bath trends.