We live in an area with a fairly hot market, 2 homes near me moved in 3
days.

IMHO, having just bought a house in a hot market a couple years ago
(DC), this could work for or against you depending on the part of the
market you're in. In DC, as another poster pointed out, people who can
pay, say, above the median home price in the market are usually looking
for a turn-key house -- everything upgraded and ready to go. OTOH, a
market like that has a lot of bottom feeders, like myself, who are
desperate to get a house that fits their budget. I was specifically
looking for a house with good bones, but old everything, because I
wanted my money to go toward paying for the neighborhood. The
renovations will come later. The house I bought has the original 1958
everything.

So, I guess I would recommend, as others have, cleaning and painting,
stripping the wallpaper, and leaving the structure of the kitchen as
is. If you're going to redo the kitchen, you'll have to redo it so it
suits the standards of the neighborhood, not do it on the cheap, or the
buyer won't value it much. Completely redoing a kitchen for $10K, as
seen on TV, in a hot market sounds like a pipe dream. You'd be lucky
to buy the *cabinets alone* that an upmarket buyer would expect for
that amount.

One other random thought: when shopping for a house, if I saw evidence
the homeowner had tried to do repairs or renovations that were beyond
his abilities, I generally turned around and walked out. You never
know what's hidden behind the walls that the owner tried to do himself
and screwed up. If you're going to do anything really serious, hire a
professional.