I painted my cabinets with BM Satin Impervo Bittersweet Chocolate. I have builder grade oak cabinets and wanted an espresso stained finish with no brush strokes. I read several tips on this website and would like to share my tips after I have completed the project. a) If your cabinets are refinished with varnish as (most builder grade cabinets are) do NOT prime. BM guy sold me a primer which took forever to sand. Adding a lot of unnecessary work. b) Buy a 1" angled brush for the trim. Make sure it is for oil based paint c) Buy a 2" angled brush for oil based paint. The best you can afford and are willing to pay. I bought a Purdy 2" Ox-O-Angular and a Corona 2" angled brush for the final coat. $20 and $30 respectively. It was worth the money for me. d) Buy 4" foam rollers to apply the paint e) Buy small art brushes for the trim. I painted the backs first and laid out for a week. I then flipped over and painted the fronts. Paint the trim first with the 1" brush. Very light paint. Then use the foam for the rest of the door. Apply a thin coat and then use the 2" brush all over the door very lightly. Let the brushes weight fall on the door and keep as parallel to the surface being painted as much as possible along the grain. Long strokes are always better. Next, remove excess paint on the trim with the art brush. Brush over the trim and remove paint from the brush on a cardboard box every 5-6 inches. Let them dry for a week. After they are dry, sand with a scotch brite in between coats finisher. Lightly. This process should remove excess paint. Use a 220 grit sand paper where paint will not be removed with the scotch brite finisher. Next, use tack cloths to remove dust. Apply the second coat as you did the first coat. Let dry for a week, and apply the second coat to front of the doors. This last coat should be your best finish of all. I used a new brush for the last coat and the training acquired during the first coats and second coat to the back should prepare you to do a great job on this last coat. Think of the first coats as training. Use them to teach yourself the technique that will work for you. I hardly had any brush strokes on the first 18 doors, but my brush began malfunctioning after that. So I had 18 excellent doors and 3 not so good doors. The reason is I did not use a 1" brush for the trim. I used the same 2" angled brush. Problem with this was that I used the brush to get in the crevices of the trim, causing the bristles to bend and over and over again. I believe this damaged the brush toward the end of the project. It's worth another $10 for a 1" brush dedicated to trim. Good luck!

Painted wood cabinets definitely will show digs and bumps more than a stained cabinet. They are also more unforgiving about showing surface dirt . You will do more routine wiping to remove finger prints. If you go that route, do have the company supply you with extra touch up paint and transfer it to small, air tight bottles , such as baby food jars, with no air within them.

Oak white combo is not dated. This pic on This Old House site last week: Other pics: Paint your cabinets only if you want to. Do not get on the trend merry go round. Unless your budget is huge, you wont be able to keep up with the changing trends.

Are the walls painted a dark or bright, or deep color? If they are then i might think of painting them. If they are more neutral I would do as jmm said first. You can always give a painting allowance in the sales contract. The chance of YOU picking the the exact colors that I would are fairly slim. Wouldn't spend the money unless I had to