[Varda]

In my area you need a good kitchen to sell an older home. In the area north of us a good kitchen has less effect on sales. It depends where you live.
Also maybe their kitchen needed a remodel. We remodeled our kitchen because I hated it. Now we have a nice kitchen that's a pleasure to be in. That's a retirement goal in and of itself.

Agree with the rest of your post about the daughter. At 20, she's an adult. She needs to feel the consequences of adult decisions.

[LilFarmer]

We are remodeling our 30 year old dated kitchen for the same reasons… we want to live here the rest of our lives and want a kitchen we are comfortable with! And if we have to sell, it is less headache for us/our kids to update.

Anyway, it is only costing us $6 k, but they are repurposing a lot of the materials… that saves a LOT in cost, even though it costs a bit more in labor

[Inspectorette]

My kitchen has good bones, but at 16 years old, it's outdated cosmetically. Have thought about getting the hickory cabinets painted, with new hardware, and replacing the black granite countertops with lighter colored quartz.

However, at my age (78) and widowed, I don't know how many years I have left here. If I ended up having to sell, a prospective buyer might not like my tastes. Not to mention, having to deal with remodelers crashing around for weeks (or months) while not being able to use the kitchen, is not an appealing prospect.