4 Things Real Estate Agents Wish You Knew About Colorful Appliances

published Apr 9, 2021
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Credit: Liz Calka

When you think of colorful appliances, your mind might wander to those eccentric, bright kitchens straight out of the ‘70s. While dark wooden cabinets and yellow laminate countertops are less frequent these days, colorful appliances are making a comeback thanks to brands like Smeg and Viking selling stunning ovens and refrigerators in every color in the rainbow.

While you may fall in love with a cobalt blue refrigerator, real estate agents suggest exercising a little caution. If you’re considering buying colored appliances for your kitchen, here’s what real estate experts want you to know.

They could make your home harder to sell down the line.

Adding colored appliances could narrow down the number of prospective buyers when you do decide to sell in the future, meaning your home might linger on the market for longer than you’d like.

“In general, whenever you do something very stylistic to your home, you are shrinking your audience for who will buy it,” explains Steven Gottlieb, an agent at Warburg Realty in New York City.

Unless it’s your forever home, you might want to reconsider making expensive design choices like opting for a bright and bold oven. It’s similar to walking into a room with eggplant walls and orange furnishings — it’s just harder to see yourself living there.

But in some cases, something eccentric like this could be the ticket for selling the home. When Beatrice Genco, a real estate agent at Triplemint, showed clients a home in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn, that had lime green appliances, they were so in love with the color that they immediately put in an offer, even though the rest of the place was in shambles.

“Some people think they’re super funky and playful and decide that once they purchase something, they can renovate the rest of that area of the house based on that appliance,” she says.

Colorful appliances might hinder your negotiating abilities.

If someone does love your home but doesn’t think colorful appliances match their decor style, they’ll likely negotiate that renovation cost out of their asking price.

“When people are thinking about renovation costs, they’re also thinking of purchasing new appliances,” Genco says. “So that’s where the funky colorful appliances come into play.” 

That bright red Smeg fridge will not only cost you up front, but it may cost you when you go to sell your home as well. 

Credit: sergiophoto/Shutterstock.com

They’re not easy to swap out or replace.

Unlike a fresh coat of paint, appliances are pricey — and pretty difficult to swap out if you don’t want to make a major renovation. According to Gottlieb, people don’t want to remove something that’s pretty new, which is why they’re less likely to purchase a home with appliances they hate.

“As you go to renovate your own kitchens and bathrooms, you do need to think about who your future buyers are and how they might feel about your choices,” he says.

However, they’re not as big of a sticking point in the luxury real estate market.

Gottlieb explains that while the number of people interested in a home or apartment may decrease with colorful appliances, that may not matter as much in the luxury market, because the renovation budget is less of a consideration. 

“People are going to do what they’re going to and they have no problem ripping out beautiful stuff to put in their own taste,” Gottlieb says.