myrtle, can you post any shots of your existing kitchen? Makes it easier.

Check out your competition. What do those kitchens looks like?

When we sold our previous house, the realtor suggested we paint the oak cabinets white which we did. Honestly, it wasn't a great job...probably didn't wear well but it helped the house show better.

I would absolutely replace counters and add hardware. No backsplash. Pictures would help.

Ask a realtor. This stuff is very specific to your market.

A 25 year old kitchen will be the #1 target for any buyer to rip out and replace. Since a new kitchen costs an average 50K any buyer will take that off of their offer as a negotiating tactic, even if you took that into account when you priced the house.

So you have a couple of approaches here. You can paint the cabinets, add new counters, new hardware, new floating vinyl or laminate floor, and lighting and wall paint. Or, you can pull out the old cabinets and put in inexpensive ones from Ikea or another stock cabinet line. And new counters and etc. A lot depends on what you have, and what it looks like, and what percentile your home is in for the market. And how much you are willing to DIY.

Because the third alternative is to nothing but clean and declutter and price it right and take the financial hit. If you've been in the house long enough, you might come out not losing so much doing just that. Unless the rest of the house is also ''grandma''. Then you're going to take a much bigger hit than 50K and you need to develop a strategy to bring the whole house up to date. Cleaning, decluttering and paint goes along way though!

People like me are looking deliberately for kitchens that have no been updated. I don't want to tear out "upgrades" that don't appeal. I prefer to start from scratch.

I had a kitchen like that in our apartment and renovated it a year before we sold with a sale in mind. The floors were not touched. The cabinets were painted with new hardware. The stove, dishwasher, sink and refrigerator were replaced. We put in gorgeous marble counters and a new backsplash. Everything was kept very neutral and simple. The kitchen was open to the dining room and that is what people wanted.

A single dad with 2 kids bought the apartment and, while the kitchen wasn't a main focus, the renovation really paid off. The kitchen was new and there was nothing to do.

Some might have ripped everything out anyway. He ripped out our built ins in the bedroom which I thought was nuts but that's what he wanted/needed.

Appliances date a kitchen and so does cabinet color, counters and sink style. If the replacements are done very well and carefully chosen, it can be transformed from a minus to a plus. I didn't spend anywhere near 50K. Nothing structural was done.

Before:

After

I think the advice to really look at your market and seek the advice of a realtor first is a good idea. Count me as one who hates when someone does a "lipstick on a pig", because when I buy a house, I will most likely rip it all out. I know that a few houses that I bid on had done some minor renovations on the bathrooms and they mentioned that they had put some effort into it. Yet they had very different taste than me, and while I conceded that it looked fine, there was no way that I cared at all that they had spent $10,000 upgrading the baths. I wasn't going to pay for that upgrade and really in our area, it was a mistake, because the house was clearly too dated to have $10,000 resolve all the problems. It was a 1950s rancher that needed about $500k of remodeling done to it.

Your area may be totally different. You will know that if you consult some professionals.

I agree you should ask a realtor. Someone posted up thread that people will take 50K off an asking price b/c of a bad kitchen - not true at all in my area. I specifically told my realtor I did NOT want updated kitchens/baths b/c I don't like most people's taste and wanted to redo them myself. That put our house in the price range we were willing to pay. The houses with redone kitchens and baths were 50K above our price range. So we did NOT offer 50K less for this house b/c that is not how people do it in this area. B/C of the price range we looked in, I didn't see a single home with an updated kitchen. The rest of this house was move-in - fresh paint, crown molding, finished basement, etc though. It is VERY market dependent.

Check out the link below on updating an oak kitchen without painting. Quite frankly, I wouldn't paint the cabinets because regardless of the work, it may turn off some potential buyers. Dark gel stain may be an option. It's way easier, and look quite stunning.
The other thing is that at a recent visit to IKEA, I saw young people actually drooling over darker oak (the Rockhammar), so perhaps just deepening the current color would work, maybe replacing some doors with glass.

Before any major investment, you need to research your market: How is your market? What does the competition look like? What do the higher priced homes look like? Who are your potential buyers? What do people expect? Some like move-in ready, others need the lowest price possible and would rather DIY.

If you have www.redfin.com in your area, you can easily look up prices for comparable properties, including sold prices.