"lovely peeling latex paint" Bad prep work. Latex cab go over oil but you need very good prep work. A bonding primer can help, but only if the oil paint is CLEAN. TSP or spic-and-span clean. Oil over latex is a really bad idea. The oil film is much harder than a latex film, and it WILL crack and crackle. They way you obtain a crackle finish is by putting a harder finish over a softer one. It really matters what order the paints are applied. Luckily latex, (even acrylic) paints are softer than alkyd (oil) paints once cured.

Sorry! I should've stated that better! You can topcoat most primers in 2-3 hrs. Dont' leave a primer unpainted for more than a month. They get too dried-out and brittle. I should've said... >>> Once the primer and paint are applied, the adhesion process of all coats takes a while! You don't need to sand out ALL the gloss. * Just a moderate "dulling" of the existing sheen. * It's subjective...but I'd keep sanding if I could easily see a reflection. * I'd maybe drop down to 100-grit for the 1st pass. Then, a quick 2nd-pass with ~150-grit. * If you're near a C2 dealer, the C2-SAP (Sandable-Acrylic-Primer) is great for this kinda work. This is neat for REAL fussy applications. After priming, this primer sands nicely for extra-smooth topcoats. Faron

Use a stripper(eco friendly types work ok) and remove all the old paint. Reason? If it peels now, it will peel later and take any new paint. Then clean the surfaces with soap and water and let dry completely(24-48 hours). Then use a shellac based primer(BIN for interior or BullsEye 123 for exterior, both made by Zinsser) and prime. Then use which ever paint you choose. The best paint jobs are 70% preparation, 25% paint, and 5% technique.

"Oil over Latex or latex over oil": my 2 cents; First, the controversy largely applies to EXTERIOR paints. Why? Latex paints expand greatly when heat is applied to them ( think rapid surface temperature gain when hit by the sun). Oil paints are brittle from the outset and get more so with age. They are bonded to one another and the latex paint wants to expand, the oil does not - bad scenario. It can literally pull the paint right off a house, especially older homes with many coats of underlying oil paint. Second, pertaining to interior paint: The early generations of "latex" paint (1950's,60's) were exactly that. Many had natural latex resins in them and had adhesion problems when going over the old standby oil paints. The "latex" name has become generic for water based paints. After the initial real latex paints, along came many resin blends such as with acetates. These too came up short on adhesion. Most of today's premium "latex" paints are actually 100%acrylic based. Acrylics have excellent adhesion to oil paints. May I point out that most of today's white carpenter glues are acrylics, obviously because of its adhesive properties. I purposely keep samples of door casings to show customers, which have been base coated with high gloss oil paint. Over this I have applied 100% acrylic paint directly to the oil paint without any preparation, as I wanted to see the worst case scenario. The customer is invited to try to scrape off the acrylic paint. So far, not one has been able to do so! I also have a sample which has been finished coated with our new water based alkyd based paint. It too survives frequent scrapping attempts. As with any new layer of paint, surface prep is critical, especially in kitchens where airborne cooking oils and oily human hands constantly come in contact with the surface of the cabinets. Clean the cabinets and either use a deglosser or give a good scuff sanding to assure good bonding of the new paint, whether oil or "latex".