I agree with you. I think people tend to associate Kubernetes with the other underlying problems they're having with their infrastructure when they start thinking about using it. Just like it's tough when moving from 0 pieces of software in production to 1 piece of software in production, it's just as tough moving from 1 piece to 2 pieces. But if you do that transition correctly, then the 2 to infinity part is easy. I think you will find it just as painful to make that move with any orchestration system. (CloudFormation? Convox? They're not easy, and you get the feeling that nobody else is using them.)
I wouldn't recommend Kubernetes if you only have one application you run in production. Just rsync your production image to production whenever you remember to do a release. But if you have more than 1 thing, it's time to start thinking about it, because the "do whatever" that works great with 1 thing starts to break down when 1 becomes 2. That is not Kubernetes's fault. That's just the nature of the beast.
I wouldn't recommend Kubernetes if you only have one application you run in production. Just rsync your production image to production whenever you remember to do a release. But if you have more than 1 thing, it's time to start thinking about it, because the "do whatever" that works great with 1 thing starts to break down when 1 becomes 2. That is not Kubernetes's fault. That's just the nature of the beast.