I am just about finished painting my cabinets, which had already been painted at least twice - the last time badly done by PO with cheap paint and the paint was peeling/chipping. I found a post on GW about painting cabinets which was very helpful. Essentially, sand the surface to remove and rough or peeling previous pain or in your case to rough up the surface for better adhesion. Key step: PRIME. Use a good primer, the thread I found recommended the primer I used which was expensive for Primer ($38/gallon) but it did seem to do a great job and I only needed about 1/3 gallon and I had to do cabinet faces as well. It is Sherwin Williams Problock latex primer, designed to adhere to glossy and previously painted surfaces. Use one coat, over-priming is not good. This primer can be topcoated after 1 hour, so you can apply the paint after that time has elapsed. I am using BM Aura because I wanted a BM color. However BM also has Cabinet Coat which is supposed to be excellent for cabinets. It is more of an enamel finish. I wanted a regular latex because it is more flexible and my cabinets had already been painted a few times so there are multiple paint layers and I suspected a hard paint might crack. For your unpainted cabinets though Cabinet Coat might be better. I primed and painted the backs of the doors first, then flipped over and did the fronts. That way I could sand off any drips that came around onto the front, and any mars from having the uncured paint face down would be on the inside of the door. I let it all dry for 24 hours before flipping over of course. But the paint is not fully cured at that point. I put the doors on strips of wood to elevate off the ground and allow edges to be painted, but painting on a table would have been far more comfortable. I did it outside because it minimized paint fumes in the house. I used a brush, not a roller. I've never been able to get paint smooth with those foam rollers I get bubbles everywhere. When painting over original wood you are supposed to paint with the grain not against. Mine I alternated the primer and paint since there is no remaining grain to show through all the existing paint coats! It's a lot of work but as the kitchen is functional without cabinet doors, you can do a few at a time and not rush. Having them professionally painted would certainly be a lot easier, but with the paint costs only, it is very cheap (less than $100) to DIY.

If it's not too late and you haven't already done so, I suggest posting this on the "Discussions" side of Kitchens. This is the "Gallery" side that's more for finished kitchens and the like. The Discussions side of Kitchens is for on-topic discussions concerning kitchen remodels. You will most likely get many more responses over there. Good luck!

Browns occur in a wide range of shades from warm to cool and they need to complement each other or you might end up with a result that makes you vaguely dissatisfied with the overall effect. @raee_gw zone 5b-6a Ohio "Vaguely Dissatisfied" is spot on. I must have tried a forest's worth of flooring samples against my "golden" walnut cabinets and nothing looks right. Re your red oak, I wonder if there is a significant hue difference (or some other color difference) between red oak harvested 80 years ago versus modern day red oak. Because all the newish red oak floors I see seem to lean pink or red when unstained. @Patricia Colwell, I also LOVE natural walnut floors. I keep pondering that species as a way to distract from our "golden" walnut cabs, but DH prefers lighter over darker flooring. (Plus, the $$.) @lucky998877, thanks. Your floors sound lovely--and made to last! Good luck with your choice! Chandler, sorry for the hijack. Hope everything worked out great! :)

Thank you for this explanation. That makes a lot of sense. Very much appreciated!