It's not that difficult. A DIYer might not get an absolutely perfect finish, but it is a not that expensive or time consuming.

As far as WHY some insist it is difficult I don't know.

I agree with Thor. I have painted cabinets in my 2 bathrooms & in the previous house that we owned. They looked great & I never saw chips etc. in the 6 years after painting before we sold the house. Prep is very important. Also giving the paint plenty of time to cure to a hard finish.

I wonder if there isn't a upwards slope of increasing expectations -- and expense -- when it comes to kitchens. Laminate used to be just fine, now folks are spending 2 to 10x as much on stone/quartz counters. Backsplashes went from a nice upgrade to required. This is great if you can afford it and want to spend that much, but function trumps style for me, and I like the idea of changing my cabinet color with a fresh coat of paint every now and then.

Could it be that kitchen cabinets get far more wear and tear, use, food splatters, etc. than typical painted furniture? Requiring a better finish.

Even the pros don't get it right. A lot. It's not difficult to paint something. That is to get a coat of paint on an object. Achieving a high level professional finish is another thing. There are a lot of factors that come into play. The product you are using, the equipment it's being apply with and the prep involved all effect quality of the end finish. It's not that DIY without all of this can't get you a decent finish but what are you comparing it to.

What’s hard about it is that it takes time to do it right, and by the 5th door, you’re absolutely sick of it and are tempted to skip steps. It’s hard to do something repetitive and boring and that takes up chunks of time.

What's hard is when you give in to temptation to skip steps, and then you get problems. Not sanding enough is the one that most people try to skip. Or not using quality products. It will bite you, and you will be mad at yourself that you have to repeat the process. If you’re self inflicted issue is salvageable. Some aren’t.

What’s hard about it is having the undisturbed space to spread out the project, and work on it when you can. If you can’t take over the garage for a few weeks, and not have to put everything up out of the way when the spouse has to change the oil that weekend, then the project is going to take even more time.

What’s hard is when you use one of those coatings that you shouldn’t, that take a month to cure. See above about skipping steps. Again, dents and scrapes in incited paint mean starting over.

Whats hard is accepting that if you want a job as good as good as a Pro. you’ll need to come out of your comfort zone, buy some tools, and practice. Practice a LOT. Before you touch your cabinets.

What's hard is a accepting “good enough” is what it’s going to have to be. You aren’t going to get 100%. Not without hundreds and hundreds of hours. By the time you have the practice, you’ll either be out looking for a new career, or it will be time to sell the pro rig that you bought, because here’s nothing left to be painted anywhere in your house.

I post this regularly, but here is a reminder of how much work it really involves.

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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. Some beginners prefer that for spraying as well. It's time intensive work, and should take 7-14 days for a Pro to accomplish completely and cost between 8--10K depending on kitchen size and amount of detail in cabinets.

Remove doors and drawer fronts.

Remove hinges and hardware.

Clean with Spic and Span

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 to spray both sides. Or lay on a spinner, and do one side at a time.

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 (DIY) Or conversion varnish, (Pro product) . NOT house paint. Never house paint.

Spray with second coat.

If glazing is to occur, that is next.

Spray with clear over glaze that is compatible with base coat and 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 on most, but up to 30 on some.

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.

It’s only difficult for those who are unwilling to do the appropriate steps ; take their time, do the work and have the patience! Not everyone has the same skills either. The tools and products you use can make a huge difference also. It can be daunting but if you are willing to do the work it is certainly doable. I have done it many times.

Of course it can be done DIY. But don't kid yourself to do a decent job takes lots of sanding, prep work, etc. It's not a 30 minute job like they show on HGTV. If you DIY and have a full time job, it means spending lots and lots of weekends prepping, stripping, sanding, and then painting it all. That is why we caution about having them done.

In many cases the time spent if the cabinets are not high quality, isn't worth the time when you consider that Ikea cabinets may wind up being a better investment in the long run.

I was reading another thread and had the same thought. "It will chip within a year!" And? If I can live with the wear and tear and expect to have to repaint more frequently than I would prefer, what's the problem if I go into it with my eyes open? I won't be as durable as a factory finish, but it's not the disaster some make it out to be.

I grew up with a kitchen that had painted cabinets (my dad had made them in the 60s; slab fronts). I remember my dad repainting them a couple of times in my youth. Brushed, not sprayed. You could see the brush marks. They got chipped. But nobody cared because, well, nobody had an expectation that it was a perfect, indestructible finish.

I think refinishing cabinets with more traditional door styles is more of a PITA for prep because of the detailed profiles. But sanding a slab door is not hard.

It depends on if you want a professional job or not. The idea to me behind painting cabinets is avoiding the cost of replacing them. A professional job can make it look like you did replace them. As a painter, I see most DIY jobs that people are proud of are not perfect. Some people demand perfection and others can't even see paint drips or that another coat of paint is required or brush marks everywhere. It depends on you and your eyes and how picky you are.

Cpartist: "it means spending lots and lots of weekends prepping, stripping, sanding, and then painting it all".

Note to any lurkers out there: As always YMMV, but I painted my kitchen cabinets over one weekend and a week of weeknights.

I scrubbed, primed, and painted.

With the doors and drawers on newspaper in my living room.

For less than $100.

https://www.familyhandyman.com/kitchen/diy-kitchen-cabinets/surprising-tips-for-painting-kitchen-cabinets/

Its not hard. It is very time consuming, to do all the prep, and sanding and filling, etc. Finally, you are at primer stage. Then the primer needs a light sanding and tack cloth down and finally you can paint, Either spray them, if you have a place to spray, or use a foam roller meant for cabinets and a high quality brush. I personally wouldnt do any spraying in my house, and usually those painting cabinets have them in there house already. I painted mine with foam roller and a quality brush. They are holding up very well. No touchups needed and its been a few years now.

How appropriate for this topic that a poster just started a thread about the problems they are having with painting their cabinets. It wasn't even DIY. I think this is a perfect example of why the Pros say that kitchen cabinets are hard to paint. For every success story some of you posted, I am going to bet that there are many more negative ones where the outcome wasn't so great ...
https://www.gardenweb.com/discussions/5769725/kitchen-cabinet-painting-nightmare-need-advice#n=12

If it's done correctly, it WON'T chip within a year!

Prep is VERY important. Just getting them clean takes some serious effort - years of oily film on them. A good scrub using something like Greased Lightening spray cleaner, a good rinse with clear water, and a week to dry, is the first step. Then sanding the doors and cabinet face.

We chose to leave our doors up when we painted - DH was terrified the old holes would become too big and hinges would never again fit properly. So, we painted around the hinges, and then used mineral spirits to carefully remove and paint gotten on them (think Q-tips!). We used a good oil-based primer, and then we used oil-based enamel to paint the doors and frames. We did NOT paint the interiors of the cabinets or the interior of the doors - unnecessary work and could cause fit problems (these were partial over-lay/partial inset doors). This took such a long time, that curing was not an issue - we could only do a couple each weekend, and this was just the uppers.

I took the dogs and went to a long dog-show weekend. DH locked the cats out of the kitchen and finished the lowers while we (and all that HAIR) were away. I don't know how we could've done them otherwise. They lasted, with NO chips for 19 year when we re-painted them due to color change. Those lasted another 13 years until we re-did the entire kitchen (not do to chips on cabinets - there weren't any!).

Most people don't have the time or the patience. They hire a cheap house painter who slaps a coat of acrylic paint on and calls it a day. These will not last. Having them sprayed professionally with a conversion varnish is getting close to the price of new cabinets. I would only do this if I loved the layout of the kitchen, the lowers had lots of big, deep drawers, and I just didn't like the color/finish of the high quality cabinets.

Your right Anglophilia; I have painted plenty of kitchen cabinets in my day and they have never chipped! Cleaning, sanding, priming ( I always use an oil based , stain blocking primer) ; because you can sand it to a super smooth finish before you paint! Tack between steps. I use Ace cabinet paint ; oil water cleanup. Dries to a very hard finish. Must let dry 24 hrs between coats . Sand between coats. Three coats. If you don’t have the patience then don’t do it.

Most painted cabinet fails are probably due to improper prep. Skimping on the necessary steps is a recipe for disaster! Knowing what you are dealing with beforehand and using the right materials/ paints and primers will make your outcome more successful so do your homework beforehand. Know what finish is on your cabinets and what primer you need, use the best tools you can afford. Remove all hardware and doors and number them . Be prepared to spend a lot of time and elbow grease if you want it to look great! It’s not slapping latex on the wall!