Start by sanding the cabinets to give you a smooth surface (particularly important in areas where the paint may be chipped or peeling). Use a vacuum and tack cloth to wipe off the dust. If you are not going to remove all of the current paint, you will need to use a latex-based primer and paint to get the new paint to adhere to the door. But make sure you at least remove all flaking, chipped, peeling areas and use a light grit sandpaper to rough up the surface. Then clean the door with tack cloth and vacuum. The paint forum has recommendations for specific kinds of paint that are particularly good for cabinets. I did ours before I found GW so I used regular ole latex paint from Lowes and applied several thick coats of poly on top, but I also sanded our cabs down to bare wood before I started. Make sure you have a really good brush. I prefer Purdy. For flat surfaces, I used a 2 1/2" straight edge, but for the grooves, corners, and edges I used a small angled 1 1/2" brush. Don't thin the paint, but use small amounts of paint on the tip of the brush only (helps control drips). Do one side at a time. Let that side dry several days before doing the second side. Make sure you flip the doors between coats: Do the first side, let it dry for several days, then do the opposite side, let it dry for several days, put the second coat on the first side, etc. This way you can make sure you get an even color saturation on the whole door. Make sure you sand any drips, lumps or bumps and use the tack cloth to clean between coats. If you want a poly on top (I did that in order to make it a truly scrubbable surface, but I was using red paint, so color saturation was an issue), use fairly thick coats of poly -- that helps blend any brush strokes that might be visible and gives it a factory-look finish. Good luck. It took us 3 months to complete our cabs, but it was worth it!

I'm in the process/purgatory of this project right now. blfenton is right - you don't need to sand down to the wood. Just scuff sanding with 120 grit paper to give the old finish tooth for the new finish to stick to. Due to some issues along the way (I foolishly stacked up some completed doors and they ended up sticking) I did sand some parts to completely remove some finished paint. When I did this I got down to bare wood in some places. Unfortunately, when I primed and painted again the sheen appears somewhat different where I got down to bare wood. Anyway, I'm just suggesting that it could be more headache/heartache than it's worth to sand so much. If you happen to find old streaks or runs I would make the effort to get those sanded out now. A few other words of advice that I've picked up from reading or wish someone had told me before I started - Don't use TSP to clean as it leaves a residue that can interfere with adhesion if not cleaned off properly. Vacuum off all dust and use a tack cloth. For dust in corners use a paintbrush to get small particles of dust out. Sometimes it's good to do two coats of primer. I wish I'd done this on my entire project - especially when I had some bare wood showing. Add flowtrol or penetrol to extend the open time and help enhance the leveling. Wipe up any paint that gets into areas that you're not currently working on - say you're working on the inset area and some paint gets onto a stile - wipe it off so that you're not painting into drying paint. Maintain a wet edge - I never really understood this one until I got started. I find rather than trying to stretch the brush strokes from one end to another it's better to lay down the paint in a couple of passes and then tip off and do one long brush stroke. Sometimes it's also easier to lay down paint with a roller and then tip off with a brush. Be careful not to thin too much or apply too much paint because you can experience runs or sags. When mistakes happen wipe up particles, remove hairs, etc. right away. If you wait too long it's my preference to actually wash off drying paint completely from the piece rather than trying to sand it out later (this is my personal preference). I also prefer to tape off and remove tape while paint is still very wet and then tape off again when I recoat. This has allowed me to catch bleed through on my hardwood floors. When I didn't do this for my drawer faces/boxes despite cutting the tape the tape did pull in some areas. If you're installing new hardware consider drilling holes before you paint to avoid damaging your finish coat. Also consider taping over where hinges go especially if they are inset hinges (probably not the correct term), I didn't do this and I'm dreading possibly scraping/sanding out such a small area. A dumb mistake I've made is not to move the paint closer to where I'm currently working and I've dripped on finished work - try not to move a wet brush over finished work. Don't paint out of the gallon but pour what you think you'll use into a smaller container. Your brush picks up dust as you go so it's best not to contaminate the whole gallon. Also, don't pour any remaining paint back into the container unless you strain it. Don't forget to stir well and close up the gallon asap. Another mistake I made was not to caulk the doors before I painted and paint has some microcracks where the inset panel is. Honestly I'm not great at caulking and I'm not positive how exactly you execute this properly but if you're doors are an inset style I'd look into it. Sorry if I dumped all of this here and you already know all of it. I've found this to be a really long and painstaking process so I'd write a book if I thought I could save anyone from some of my mistakes! Best of luck to you!!

@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.

SO- we want to take this soffit out (it is a ranch with no venting or electrical and attic space above), install can lights- What you have there is much more than a soffit. The entire ceiling has been dropped. There may or may not be drywall above the dropped ceiling; there may be insulation up there resting on the dropped portion. The walls above the ceiling may not have drywall on them. If you remove the light diffusers, you may be able to get a better idea of what is there & what isn't. This will be more costly than simply removing a soffit-over-cabinet situation. The good news is that you have attic space above which makes the electrical easier & a bit less costly. OTOH: we will be moving the kitchen and taking out walls- basically starting over. Doesn't make sense to do anything now because when the kitchen gets moved, the new lighting you install now will be all wrong; the ceiling will have to be patched/ replaced where the walls come down, electrical will have to be re-routed... For now, I would replace the cabinet pulls with pulls that have backplates--that will help cover up the peeled paint and minimize chipping--do a bit of touch up painting. Then live with it until you are ready to take on the larger project.