I want to paint my kitchen cabinets so I don't have to buy new- How do I do this?

My cabinets are wood. They were put in when the house was built in 1990. They look like they are from the early 90's! I want to update them so they look more appealing. Evenutally I will put in new countertops as well. I need help. I have no idea where to start.I want to paint my kitchen cabinets so I don't have to buy new- How do I do this?
Prime the cabinets with oil based kilz first. Do 2 thin coats of kilz..sand down with a sponge sander to make the surfaces smooth. Oh ya..pull all the knobs so life is easy for ya..then get some finish coat like Sherwin Williams Pro Mar 200 semi gloss..Put a coat of that on and call it done. Nows the time to upgrade ya hardware with some new modern ideas...good luckI want to paint my kitchen cabinets so I don't have to buy new- How do I do this?
Both of the previous answers are good.Cover your Kitchen floor with Construction paper, they sell it in a roll at Home Depot, about 10.00 a roll, tape it to the floor for protection. Don't forget a box of rags and your paint thinner, you will need a least one gallon of paint thinner, keep rags and thinner handy for minor oops, and to clean the paint off of your hands and brush. Always soak your brush over night in paint thinner, never use water on a oil brush. You will need to mask off the cabinets and remove the hardware, be sure to mask off the inside of the cabinets, unless you intend to paint them as well, so that you dont' get paint on them. Wear some old clothes, because oil based paint is impossible to remove from clothing. Pick a good oil brush, the usually have black hairs, this is very important to have a quality brush. Do you intend on painting the door hinges? If not, remove the doors and paint the doors seperately on some construction paper, on the floor of the garage, allow plenty of drying time between coats. First, you will need a palm sander to sand off the old varnish so that the wood will accept the paint. Wipe down the cabinets with paint thinner to remove the fine dust and this will also help the wood hold the paint. You should then paint the wood with Kilz, oil based. If you've never painted with oil base, you could end up with quite a mess. The trick is to thin out the oil base so that it flows on easy and dosen't leave brush strokes. I use paint thinner to thin out the Kilz, you can spray, brush or roll the cabinets. If the cabinet doors are to remain hanging during this process, remember to leave them open for proper drying time so that they do not get painted shut. Most homeowners prefer to brush and roll.Mix about a half gallon of oil based primer(Kilz) to about a 1/2 cup of thinner. Try to brush it on, does it brush freely or does the paint drag? If the paint drags add a little more thinner. You will need two coats of Kilz to seal off the wood, you should allow a day of drying time between coats. Do Not buy Behr paint at Home Depot, it's the worse paint that I have ever seen. Home Depot also sells Glidden pain, about 19.00 a gallon. Glidden is a very good paint, choose a good oil based paint and thin it out with paint thinner like I explained earlier. Take your time with this job, thats why us women make such good painters because we pay attention to detail. It is a very time consuming job, but one that you will be very proud of in the end. You should pick your color of paint and the counter top that you will eventually want, so as to color match from the start. Good Luck, be prepared to eat out for the next week. Any and all clean up should be done with paint thinner.
You've gotten some great advice already!


I would suggest that you use water based paint instead of oil based, though. It's safer, much easier to clean up, and dries more quickly so that you can complete your project much faster!





Check out this article:


http://ezinearticles.com/?Water-Based-Wo鈥?/a>





Then, check out this manufacturer (my favorite for water based - award-winning finishes - often beating out the big manufacturers in wood mag contests) -


http://www.generalfinishes.com
LIGHTLY sand the wood just to get rid of the original varnish and make the wood accept the paint better.


Coat the wood with a coat or two of a primer based paint, white is usually pretty good.


Then, use the color you like and paint it on.