Should I include appliances already bought or offer a credit for them?

[Robert Taylor]

I've usually been buying and including the kitchen appliances in my flips. (fridge, range, dishwasher and usually an over-the-range microwave, at least on the more expensive ones) I do this for a few reasons, mainly because I think that usually when people move to a new house, they want to leave their old appliances behind and moving into a freshly rehabbed house with brand new appliances is a real turn on for a lot of buyers. I also think that just as many of us rehabbers/flippers have noticed, a staged house seems to sell more quickly than an empty house and to me, a kitchen no matter how nice, without appliances has the same look as an empty, unstaged house.

Yet, at the same time I have some questions if this is the right way to go too. I've always been buying stainless appliances because that seems to still be the "hot" item these days, although I know some people still buy them in black, white or whatever color as well. I'm also looking at appliances right now for two houses I'll be putting on the market soon and I was planning on going with a side-by-side fridge for both houses, they're both what I'd call middle of the market houses for my market (listing for probably $260k and $170k respectively) but then I wonder if I should spend more and get french door fridges, which also seem to be the hot item these days, but cost considerably more than a comparably sized side-by-side fridge.

So, with all of these questions, I wonder if I should just list them without appliances and offer a credit towards new appliances for the amount I would've spent on them, so buyers could pick out exactly what they wanted. I tried that once before and the house was slow to sell and it was a bit of a work to work with the buyer to get exactly what they wanted.

Just wondering what others are doing as far as kitchen appliances go-should I stick with picking them out and having them installed when it goes on the market, which I've been doing, or maybe offering a credit towards the appliances of the buyer's choice?