You know, we just finished painting 2 sets of bathroom cabinets. We didn't spray them, but I have to say, you cannot see any brush marks at all. What we used - BIN primer, (smells a bit but hightly recommended on GW) 2 coats of Cabinet Coat paint. This paint got rave reviews on GW and I must say, I was not disappointed. Also - got a good quality Purdy brush (can't over state the importance of a good brush) and a small foam roller. We could have used the brush on everything, that paint levels so nicely and the Purdy brush really is great. But we did do the final coat with a foam roller made for smooth surfaces. No drips, no brush marks, looks great and we didn't have the hassle of masking off the whole room for spraying. We took the doors off but left the cabinets in place. If you are limited on space, I'd take the doors off and put them aside. Do the boxes, then a couple of doors at a time. I set my doors on my kitchen table, up on some canned goods. If you have an extra bedroom and a table you can do it without too big a disruption. I realize a kitchen is a lot more cabinets than a bathroom, but if you are patient and dont mind doing a few doors at a time you can do it without a lot of space.

@Laura Holland Thanks so much for the update. I am very glad you found someone to do a post-catalyzed conversion varnish on your cabinetry. That's the standard for finish longevity. How utterly horrible that the contractors have already messed it up. Yes, repairs are very difficult with the 2-part coatings. They absolutely should have been much more cautious. It's somewhat hard to mar a 2-part finish, so they must have been really careless. It sounds like you may have gotten the satin finish of the INSL-X. I have heard the semi-gloss is significantly more durable. If you do have it re-done, I wouldn't go with any Benjamin Moore products again. Find someone who can do Milesi, Renner, or ICA-Ilva. All three of those would be superior, but they may need to be sprayed as most formulations from those companies dry fast, and the 2-part formulas provide the most hardness and chemical resistance. Many people have reported finish failures with Advance even with a Stix Primer. INSL-X is a step above Advance based on my research. In fact, INSL-X is actually made by the same people who make Stix. Benjamin Moore bought the company.

If the wear on the cabinets is enough that they need refinishing, it could be as expensive as a good paint job. My mother was able to have a few damaged doors refinished very reasonably, but we live in an area where labor cost for that sort of job are lower. It also would depend on if the doors are solid wood or veneer - wood laminated over a mdf core. Veneers are hard to refinish. You could take a door down to a reputable paint store and ask for recommendation on who to call for an estimate and if the door was solid wood or a veneer. As I mentioned, I am not a paint the cabinets person - but I have painted cabinets that were worn - my original kitchen cabinet uppers - which I then put in my laundry room. That was 20 years ago and I am fine with them. They don't get much abuse in the laundry room though. I refinished the old kitchen lowers a couple of years ago (they had been stored in the garage) and used them in my basement kitchenette. I know how to do that and felt stained wood would stand up better since the kids use that space. If I was in your position, and I could not afford new doors, and I did not know how to refinish, I would paint. I would keep a bit of extra paint around for touch ups and be aware that this will NOT increase the value of the home. When you go to sell, you will have done your economical best to make a pretty kitchen, but the cabinets will be worn cabinets that have been painted. If they still look reasonably good, a buyer will see that they have a presentable kitchen and time to save for the needed new cabinets. While I agree with the painting steps listed above, your cabinets are not worth the royal treatment. I used two coats of a good bonding primer - Zinsser 123 - and two coats of a latex acrylic enamel. Since the time I painted my cabinets, they have come out with some good cabinet paints, and I would use one of those after the primer coats. Because of the wear, I would give the cabinets a good sanding to try to even out those areas. I simply brush painted my cabinets - I did not spray them. Some of the newer paints do a good job of self leveling. I would get handles for the cabinets - the less you touch paint with wet or sticky hands the better. Even the normal oils on skin can have an effect on paint and other finishes over time. I sometimes have had fun with older kitchens - get creative because it is hard to make things worse. I do not mean you have a bad kitchen, it is just the cabinets have reached the end of their life and I don't see you devaluing them by painting them:) I do imagine this space as warm and pretty rather than the gray / white look.

@User says, "What I’m saying is to not get it into your head that your wall paint sample is ”correct” when it won’t be anything close to the chemical makeup of the industrial coating product that he used. The colors between different chemical makes can be close, but never ”the same”. Throw your wall paint sample out. It is irrelevant in the whole." If a color looks different because of the chemical makeup of the industrial coating, that is because it is a different color. A color describes a specific range of absorption, reflection, emission of light waves and when those are different it is a different color. This a common misunderstanding but it is a misunderstanding. Think of color as a physical address. 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC. is the physical address of the White House. If I say meet me at the White House tomorrow at noon and give you directions from my house, and you follow those directions perfectly but from your house... well you are not at the White House. You are at some other house, and that house doesn't suddenly become the White House because you followed the appropriate directions to get there. @Deena Ruiz - When you gave your painter a color, you gave him an address to arrive at, not directions on how to get there. He didn't end up there... At this point, there are so many industrial coatings that walk the line, it is hard to distinguish between products. Technically speaking, conversion varnish, which is what a lot of cabinet coatings are still using, is just lacquer with so much solid content that you have to add a hardener to get it to cure. So it is impossible to make any comment on the products he is using without knowing exactly what product he is using.