Dh and me did this in our previous home. We had a small kitchen with out dated doors so we measured the openings and ordered doors and drawer fronts through one of the box stores. It was actually more expensive than I thought it would be but it turned out really nice. We didn't even order wood doors, it was a laminate product of some kind and we got white. They looked like wood with a "wood grain" and they were easy for my dh to install. This was about 5 - 7 years ago and it was about $1500. We got lots of positive feedback but it was really a "diy" project, we measured then ordered, picked them up and did the install.

You can put in a new floor in the kitchen and have it matched to the old one. It won’t have a patina but if done correctly blends very well! You can barely tell the difference between my 70 year old and 6 month old floors.

"Does paint grade wood give better results than my existing stained oak wood?" 100%, the heavy grain of the oak is very tough to cover completely. "Also, the painter said the process will take a lot of prepping, sanding, using oil based primer, again sanding and paint spraying." Sounds correct or close to it.

Thanks. That's what I was expecting to see. You have lots of options. The shelves are made in 5 pieces - the four 1x pieces comprising the frame and the actual shelf sitting attached on top. I noticed in your original picture that the shelf sits on top of the front edge - I can see the seam just below the Family box. - My hunch is the shelf was slipped in and then tacked onto the four 1x support pieces. It would take a little bit of finesse, but the shelves could be removed leaving the 1x supports and in place and replaced with actual wood (the most economical choice would be furniture grade plywood with an iron on edge banding.) If you went this route, you'll need a scrap block of wood and a hammer. Hold the block of wood along an underneath edge of the shelf and GENTLY tap the hammer on the block to loosen the shelf upward. If you want the keep and reuse the existing shelf, once it's off the support frame and out of the cavity, it would be easy to apply a wood veneer. There are veneers with heat activated glue pre-applied. You rough cut the veneer, position it, iron it to activate the glue and then trim. - Another option would be to leave three of the 1x supports in place (along the back and the two sides) and slip a new wood shelf in place. - You could also remove all the shelves completely and redo them exactly as you they were originally built but in wood/furniture grade ply. This option would allow you to respace the shelves. - You could remove all the shelves completely and cut and install two wooden sides on each of the side walls of the opening with holes for shelf supports. Then you could cut new wooden shelves and adjust them to whatever position you want by moving the supports. - If you don't want to touch the shelves at all, you could frame the existing openings with 1x wood of the appropriate width. You could go along the top the baseboard and either have a lip on the bottom shelf or add another layer of MDF painted white that you would shim up to avoid a lip. Here's a bad sketch of what I'm talking about . . .