^^^ What November said. I have BM White Dove cabinets, and they are exactly that: not too white, but not cream. More of a "warm white". :)

Why don't you buy the best paint for cabinetry and trim. Specifically mad e to dry hard as a rock. i.e. Cabinet Coat. BM owns them now. Kilz is for drywall. That's why it was created, and frankly I don't think they do anything else as well. Again, i.e. get a primer that's made for wood or other hard finishes. STIX or BIN. Any adhesive primer. I go with all the advise I got on the paint forum and go oil based primer. It's harder, and very different than oil paint. You should definitely either sand to rough or use a serious dose of deglosser. If you don't all your work is for nothing. I like your color scheme, even all the different whites. Definitely do samples. I discovered why 3 different gray/sage/dusty/greens turned turquoise the minute natural light in my kitchen hit them: There's an environmental coating of some junk on the windows and it's got a BLUE tint. BTW. I admit to painting my cabinets 3 times, too, because I was testing my samples after work, at 11:00 at night. No sunlight. I just didn't get it fast enough.

We had a similarly dark kitchen when we moved into our current house. We had our maple cabinets painted when we moved in, which was five years ago. The painters sprayed the cabinets with a cabinet specific oil-based Ben Moore paint (can't remember the name) and five years later they look great, some marking on the pull-out garbage and a few other places, but that's about it. We also replaced the dark tile floor with white oak wide plank flooring, replaced the black appliances with stainless, the dark brown backsplash with subway tiles, and the red paint with off-white. It has helped a lot. However, it can't change the awkward layout. We are now in the process of replacing the cabinets and countertop and improving the layout (as much as we can since the space is awkward). As a stop-gap measure until we figured out what we wanted and had the budget to do so, painting the cabinets was great. It was also very affordable -- $600 bucks for 12x14 uppers and lowers and 8 feet of lowers on a peninsula.

Here is how I would expect a pro to spray paint kitchen cabinets. An amateur job should follow the same path. A brush painted job would differ slightly in that you wouldn't hang the doors to paint. You'd place them on a work table or easel instead. It's time intensive work, and should take 7-14 days to accomplish completely and cost between 7K-9K depending on kitchen size and amount of detail in cabinets. Remove doors and drawer fronts. Remove hinges and hardware. Clean with TSP (tri-sodium phosphate) Rinse and let dry. Scrape any loose finish. Fill any damaged spots or hardware holes that won't be reused. Sand fill smooth. Scuff sand the rest. Tack off dust. Hang in dust free paint booth with wires through hardware points. Tack off dust again. Spray with shellac based primer. Scuff sand again. Tack off dust. Spray with second coat of primer. Spray with first finish coat of a polyurethane enamel Or conversion varnish. Spray with second coat. If glazing is to occur, that is next. Spray with clear over glaze Add more molding or decorative details to boxes, filling nail holes and sanding smooth. Repeat prep process with face frames and exposed cabinet sides using plastic to create a spray booth on site. If interiors are to be done, they are done before face frames and sides. Interiors are difficult, and add both time and expense to the job. Most interiors are laminate and don't accept paint well. Allow everything to fully cure. That's 7-14 days. Clean hinges and hardware and clear coat if you're keeping the old hardware. Install new (or old) hinges and hardware. Re-install doors and drawers and adjust for proper clearances. If you are receiving or doing a job without this amount of effort, then you are not getting a quality job.