Just an FYI for those doing IKEA cabinets. Remember they are components, so you can always change out cover panels and doors while keeping the cabinet carcasses. It's a little harder to do this with other kinds of cabinets. And when it comes to kids, never say never. I've got 3, 9, 7 & 5 and I've seen a lot. Oi Vey! I've had sharpie, non-washable crayons, dry erase marker, and a zillion other things on furniture and cabinets. The blue sharpie was on a built in oak desk and oak banister bottom (sorry don't know what that part is called). That took some serious elbow grease to get out! Most recently, my youngest used a dry erase on a single sheet on the kitchen table. It bled through. Urgh. Oh well, it's on my list to be refinished anyway. I do have an IKEA thermofoil Adel white door that is peeling at the seam. Granted, it's being used as a countertop under my dish drying rack, but the damage happened after just a few encounters with water. So, if you have spills, especially around the sink, it doesn't take much to ruin it. In case you're wondering why I have a door as a countertop, it was a sample door I picked up in the AS IS section for a couple bucks. I'd had it sitting in the closet for a couple of years. When we started the reno, I realized the door was the perfect size to fit on top of one of my old cabinets. I've only got 4 cabinets installed and 4 others that are working as my temp kitchen. So far the paint is holding up nicely. We do A LOT of smoothies around here, so I've got berry colored drips or blueberry stains. They all seem to wipe up easily, even when dried on. As for cracking, some of mine were already cracked when we got them. They were a display kitchen, so who knows how long they were there. We get pretty humid here (DFW) so I'm sure that has a lot to do with it. I don't worry too much about perfect cabinets. And I just have to say, Legos rock. Of course you'll have to remind me that I said that when it's time to vacuum ; )

Ninabarrowdesigns- We have 10' ceilings. We've been in our house for about 7 months, and I still can't believe how high up those top shelves in the upper cabinets are! Just a single not-stacked 42" cabinet works out just fine for us. We have a wetbar around the corner from our kitchen, and it has a soffit over the 42" cabinets. I like how it looks for the small area, but I'm very glad we didn't do any soffits in the kitchen. Good luck!

Have you tried mild solvents? Test on the inside of the door first of course, but maybe nail polish remover, vinegar, alcohol, acetone, WD-40, gasoline, mineral spirits, or something similar would work. Sounds like an awful job! Good luck!!

To the original question - does anyone like builder grade oak cabinets - my answer is no. But that's mainly because the particle board parts of the drawers and carcass usually come apart at some point, like the drawer front that came off in someone's hand. The thread seems to have veered off into a question of whether even solid oak cabinets are liked, and or dated. I love my oak cabinets even though they need to be refinished. They are good quality, custom built though, and I think that makes a difference. I also like painted cabinets, and might even go that route next time. This thread kind of reminds me of something that happened in 1978. We bought our first house that year, and so did some good friends. Both our kitchens had painted cabinets. Mine were brown with yellow doors, which I hated, along with the fact that they were older. I stripped and refinished them and they looked so much better. They were a slab style solid wood though I can't remember what kind now. My friend's cabinets (and house) were newer, white, raised panel with arched top. I thought they were gorgeous, but she thought they were terribly dated since wood was really in then, so she started stripping hers too. That's when she found out that the doors were made of particle board, and stripping ruined two of them. All that to say that painted vs wood comes and goes as we've discussed here before. If you like your cabinets and they are in good shape, keep the wood finished. If not, paint them. Whichever you choose, it will come back if it's not in now, and it will be out if it's not now. And that's probably the same with arched tops, beadboard panels, aprons between cabinets, and so on.