No housepaint slapped on DIY with no prep. You hire a cabinet finisher. Who will sand and sand and sand, and prime and sand, and will prime and sand, and who will spray a conversion varnish top coat. Not DIY friendly. Unless you have 6 months of nights and weekends and want to buy new tools. 7-9K average cost.

I painted mine in April. 6 very long days plus 3 long nights after work. Researched the hell out of it first.Completely removed doors and drawers and hardware, replaced hinges with new, hardware had already been replaced so it was new as well. Doityourself.com has an excellent guide on how to paint cabinets properly. Clean, sand, degloss, wipe, prime, sand, wipe, prime, sand, wipe, paint, sand, wipe, paint, sand, wipe, paint, You get the picture. If you are not a patient, meticuous person, don't consider it. If you know how to use a paint sprayer, I think that would probably give the smoothest finish, but I had no desire to go down that road (large learning curve in addition to the huge ordeal of "spray avoidance"). I am very pleased with how mine turned out - self leveling paint and a good hand makes brushing an excellent method.

I used BM Advance paint, Zinsser B.I.N primer. And the best brushes I could afford. (Rolling does not often work well on wood trim, but k9gold sounds like she found a good technique.) I love mine - very very happy I did the research, and prepped properly. It makes all the difference. And of course, I saved a fortune. Gonna need it for my floors. :-)

We painted our old cabinets twice. The first time it was over the original wood finish. We did NOT remove the doors as we were afraid of enlarging the screw holes for the hinges and that would have been a disaster. We did remove the pulls and bought new ones with holes that matched.

DH then did a light sanding - there was not a high gloss finish. He then wiped the cabinets down with mineral spirits. We were painting ONLY the doors and the box and exterior rails - we did NOT paint the interiors - no need to do so. He primed them with a good quality primer, sanded again, then two finish coats with a high gloss oil based paint. Yes, there were very shiny for about a month, and then mellowed down nicely. The first paint job lasted 19 years - it really was in excellent condition, the color just looked dated.

The 2nd time we did these, we hired a painter to do them while we were out of town. Painting the first time was greatly limited by time (husband could only paint at night and on weekends), and the fact we had one child still at home and 7 pets - cats and dogs. Since the kitchen was the only exit to the backyard, this was difficult. Doing them while gone was the way to go. Painter put two coats of the new color on, again using gloss oil base paint. When I tore out that kitchen last year, the cabinets were still in excellent condition.

A hand-painted finish will look different from one factory sprayed/applied. It's a different kind of paint, and even the best painter will leave some brush strokes. We live in the US, but are aware that in the UK, many of the most expensive custom kitchen companies always hand-paint their cabinets - it is considered a sign of quality.

I painted my cabinets twice. They were walnut, flat panel and the first time I painted them a yellowy off white and changed the hardware to brass. The second time I painted them white with brushed hardware. They also had exposed hinges which I also changed both times.

The first time I painted them was before the internet and I took a door to the Benjamin Moore dealer and they were so helpful and wrote out the instructions for me. If you have a Benjamin Moore store near you I would start there for directions.,

Set up a paint station in the recroom with dropcloths on top of plastic. Plastic is really slippery so you don't want to stand directly on it. Set up horses or chairs or whatever so the doors can be laid absolutely flat. That is key.

Wash with tsp and then lightly sand, Unfortunately I don't remember the grit numbers. Being walnut I had to paint a filler first. Sand again with a a heavier grit and then a really fine grit. Wipe down and let dry.

Paint with a smaller roller. Some like the foam rollers but I didn't like them so used a regular roller and used an edge paintbrush for the corners and to smooth out any drips that may occur. I had very few..

I let everything dry for 48 hours, Sand with a light grit and wipe, let dry and repaint.

I painted both the outsides and insides of the doors.

I had two young children at the time. I would put them to bed and then start painting at 7:30 pm and paint until midnight. It is a long and arduous process and you have to have patience and a bit of a perfectionist in you to do it and get a good outcome.

I wouldn't spray them unless you can set up a paint booth outside and be assured of outside temperatures with little fluctuation.

I was happy with my product and they lasted well even with two boys. I never had any chips or wearing.

I just painted my cabs this summer and will be re-doing my closet soon. Undeniably, it is hard work, but manageable. I was only able to do 6 doors at a time given my time constraints. If you can, definitely do your painting indoors. If you have a paint sprayer the job goes much better and easier. If you don't have a sprayer, like me, you can get similar sprayed-on results by buying the Zinsser BIN primer in the spray can, and then lightly sand the primer coat. One benefit of spraying your primer coat, is the quick drying time so you can start your first paint coat the same day. For the paint coats, use a fine-nap roller. I used BM advance like many others here. The trick that makes your cabinets smooth as glass is to lightly wet sand after the final coat dries with 800 grit. Good luck!

Ellen, craftsman oak is a nice look. What do they look like? Do you have pictures? Maybe painting them isn't the right approach.

painting cabinets are a project for sure, and it's something we do often for customers.
Benjamin Moore Advance is a great product as stated above, BUT, it is a product that drags and is sticky... tough to apply unless spraying. Insl-x makes a urethane modified acrylic made specific for cabinets. it is called "Cabinet coat". It is another super product and it brushes and rolls a lot easier than Advance.

Cabinet Coat and Advance are both sold by Benjamin Moore, and both made specifically for cabinets. My BM store recommended the Advance paint over the CC, so that is what I used. However, I expect that the CC will also provide a good result. I did not experience any "drag" or "stickiness" with Advance.

Cabinet Coat is a product that was developed and manufactured by Insl-x. Benjamin Moore acquired the company and the product as well. I sold both products and used both products many times. Both are very good for cabinets, but I can promise that Cabinet coat is more easily applied, especially by someone that is not familiar with it's properties

I used Advance and it covered smooth but it seemed to take literally weeks to fully dry/cure.

R. Rodgers Restoration and Remodeling, I cannot comment on the ease of application of CC since I did not use it, but I would guess that yes, it would be easier for a beginner painter.

Janelle Van - Absolutely - it takes 30 days to fully cure, and that is right in the Advance specs:

Depending on weather and drying conditions, it could take up
to 30 days to reach optimum hardness and final sheen

Paint is dry to touch in 4-6 hours, and ready to repaint in 16. I learned all this prior to walking out of the BM store.

Thank you all for the information. I knew it would be time consuming but didn't realize how much. This gives me something to think about. I may look into refacing instead.

the major difference between cabinet coat and advance with BM is that cabinet coat also dries much faster

Ellen Natale, not trying to discourage you. I just think a lot of people try it without understanding what is involved, to do the job right. And they wind up with crap.

It's not an easy or quick project. But it is IMMENSELY satisfying. :-)