What a beautiful (and expensive looking) cabinet door! I wouldn't paint it at all.

They are quality but they are 40+ years and really need help.

There are 27 cabinet doors, a bank of draws plus 3 kitchen doors and trim all this dark in a 12x15 kitchen.

If you haven,t lived there a long time I wouldn,t do it. I painted all the dark stained wood trim here and regretted a year later and every since. I think glazing is a current trendy look for kitchens but if you love it and your keeping the house go for it. That said I tried to glaze my bedroom door and it was a disaster but I have seen some really nice glazed do it yourself projects here.

We have been here for about 4 years and we bought it 2 years ago.
We have really debated about painting or refinishing.

I chose painting because I didn't want to strip all this woodwork, doors and cabinets. Even the inside of the cabinets are a dark walnut color. How do I get the cabinets a honey oak color to match the rest of the house? (which is a 100 yr old 2 story farm house).

I love the old country kitchen look. I making prairie curtains and using wrought iron rods. It's a work in progress. :-)

I would paint, but not glaze. That ship has sailed....it is more Olde Worlde than prairie anyway.

Painting those will be a LOT of work. There is a lot of detail there that needs to be washed and sanded first. You might do that and see what you have. Those look like actual walnut or cherry, and the detailed doorstyle would be horribly expensive to replace.

Address the lighting needs of the home FIRST! Put in some under cabinet lights, and additional lights in the kitchen. A dark kitchen will still be dark with with white cabinets, it will just now look dingy too because the white will be full of shadows and look unclean. (Glazing would only accentuate that and make it worse.) Paint the wall, do different counters, or a backsplash, but don't touch those cabinets!

How about a picture of the whole kitchen?

If you're definitely painting, I would do the cabinets and wait on the doors and frames. What material/color is the flooring?
As holly mentioned, do check your lighting.

Gotta ask, what else in your home is 'honey oak' color? I would choose paint over refinishing to a honey oak since it seems the majority of posters here are trying to get rid of the honey oak color.

Could you try wood restore or start with cleaning first? Or add glass inserts to the uppers? Or a bright backsplash?

[Modern Kitchen[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/modern-kitchen-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_709~s_2105) by Houston Architect C O N T E N T Architecture

or maybe remove some of the uppers and get open shelves.

kitchens - pendant lights floating shelves dark cabinets marble Ryan... (clipped to polyvore.com)

Here is a link that might be useful: restore wood

speaking as one who had my old cabinets painted 'cream' i would NEVER do it again...even though the cabinets were professionally painted and the company did a good job (no obvious defects) my cabinets always appeared as 'old cabinets painted over to look 'fresh'

i personally like the cabinet door you posted...quite a bit actually, and before i would paint over them, i would do as others have suggested try inserting some glass panels and 'refreshing' the finish.....eventually i bit the bullet and remodeled and put in new cherry cabinets (funnily enough, i disliked my old painted white cabinets enough, that i studiously avoided the ubiquitous 'white' kitchen 'on trend' now because i was so unhappy with the same cabinets/different color)

if your cabinets are in really bad shape (certainly not discernible from your photograph), i would consider going all in and replacing them....iow, i considered professionally painting mine throwing 'good money after bad'

In response to your initial post, I would not carry the glazing over to the doors and trim in the room. I would treat those elements the same way they are handled in adjacent rooms.

Thank you everyone for all the ideas and help. It's great. I wish that I had discovered this site long ago.
The lighting isn't great and I have been looking at lights. Under cabinet I think will help.
The cabinets are in good shape, a few repairs on hardware ect.
I like the idea of inserts.

The floor is not happy, we are looking at using a laminated floor. It's a high traffic area so I need easy to care for.
All the trim is honey oak color except the kitchen and entryway.
I am doing the entryway at the same time so it flows together more. That will be a lot of stripping, There are layers of enamel paint.
I work today but I will get more pictures posted.

What floor do you have in the adjacent rooms? I'm a fan of natural hardwood in the kitchen. Very easy to care for.

I like the idea of glass, but it could be expensive. I think someone mentioned chicken wire, and since it's a farm house, think it would be perfect. Use it on the upper cabs only, keeping the bottom doors solid.

If the cabs are in good shape, I wouldn't paint them, but if you have an island, you could opt for a paint on that.

Here is a link that might be useful: chicken wire 'mesh'

Some info on how to do glass inserts (below). Sheets of LEXAN glass are 100.00 at HD for a 72"x36" sheet. I've come across some inexpensive online glass discounter, recommended by a furniture maker. I could see if I can find the info.

Here is a link that might be useful: inserting glass into cabinets

Lexan is polycarbonate, which is more expensive than actual glass and harder to cut.

I wouldn't even think of painting those cabinets until some electrical work has been done to address the lighting needs. That will make a HUGE difference.

For glass, find your local stained glass dealer. I selected and bought the glass there, and then had the local cabinet maker cut the hole and the local window repair guy put in the glass. For my sized doors, the cost was well under $100 each for everything. My doors were birch plywood slabs, so I no qualms cutting and painting them.

Don't paint yours yet! Give them a good cleaning first. Ask over at the old house or woodworking forum on how to do that.

Right now, what I should be doing instead of reading posts is continuing with my paint removal project. Some PO painted my beautiful trim work & I get to make it beautiful again! It's amazing what painting the walls and installing lights will do. It takes longer, but just doing one step at a time prevents mistakes.

Your cabinets look similar to my NEW kitchen. They look like beautiful cabinets. Consider having a cabinet maker "refresh" the finish, giving them a like new look. I would allow some of the flaws and character marks to show through. Mine are a rustic cherry with some knots and natural wood flaws. New hardware?

I love painted and (lightly) glazed cabinets. I definitely would not glaze the doors and trim though.

I think it would help to see more of your kitchen to determine what style would work best for you.