Yes you should use a primer over raw wood. I would select a high quality oil based primer but an acrylic primer will also work if you don't want to deal with the fumes and all that. After priming, you will want to sand with a fine grit sanding block, dust off and then apply two topcoats. Your finish coat does not have to be oil based these days. 100 percent acrylic paints are every bit as durable without the yellowing, cracking and the stink that you get with using oils...oh, and without the loooooong drying times too! I agree that painting new cabinets is best left to the pros. It is very hard for a novice painter to do a professional looking job. Heck, I even know a lot of painters that are terrible at it! It's really the same deal with the glazing...professional results only come if you have years of practice unless you get very lucky which does happen. You will want to use high quality rollers and brushes. Corona and Wooster make the best brushes IMO followed closely by Purdy. You may also choose to roll them...for that you should use a small 4" roller, sometimes called weenie rollers made by either Whizz or Wooster has some too. The nap size should be 1/4".

if your doors are frame and panel construction the panel must be allowed to float freely in the frame. It will expand and contract with seasonal humidity changes much more than the frame. You probably want to paint in the dry season when the panel is contracted so that it doesn't then shrink further and show an unpainted stripe. If you seal the panel to the frame the wood *will* move and something will give--you can hope for the paint or caulk bond, but it's also possible that the panel will split. When making new doors it's much better to finish the panel before installing it in the frame, but that's not usually an option in refinishing. Just try to not let too much paint gather in the rabbet that holds the panel.

I need to r place my counters and have found a beautiful granite with large chunks of white, black, greige and small veins of taupe(?). I am doing a simple elongated white tile backsplash. Now here is the problem. I have light oak, think 1994, cabinets which are beautiful, but they are oak. I want to paint my island black and the cabinets a soft white. The problem is my house is FULL of woodwork. Columns, ledges, built-ins, bookcases, mantles and a ton of windows. Will it look bad not to paint everything? If so, I would change my stone selection. Help!

wow, I love your stone. so interesting it's not my most preferred style kitchen(we had similar in our previous place- but yours frankly is much cooler), and I'm not a big fan of the accent over the stove(we also had an accent, different one, hand painted-and I didn't like it either lol), yet it all works together well right now and is attractive enough. what bothers you the most? what paint did you have in mind? if there's enough light-and you really want to change color of the cabinets-I'd pick up maybe green from your stone. It'll go with the rest of the elements still, and will be interesting. Just know it's a lot of money, to paint it professionally. or a lot of effort, to paint it yourself. And of course one should love green enough:) You can paint only bottom cabinets..even though no, with your stone, I wouldn't use two tone probably..the stone is enough of a star. I'd either paint one color, or leave as is. Unless it all irritates you like hell for some reason. Do you like the rest of the elements? If it was mine-I might change the accent..the blind, for somethiing warmer-colored..I might look into darker hardware with stronger lines, to balance the stone a tad better..and then just enjoy it, honestly. Put a plant, a cool teapot, and maybe some handmade bowl with fruits etc, to soften stainless.. It's a nice kitchen. If you still decide to change cabinets' color-consider it carefully against all the other elements that are staying.