about 15 minutes then used a puddy knife to scrap off the varnish. Much faster and easier than sanding in my opinion. Then wiped off the cabinets with mineral spirits, then put up one coat of primer, 3-4 coats of white paint (Valspar's Swiss Coffee) then two coats of water based poly. Water based so it will not yellow over time but makes the cabinets easy to clean in the future. Hope this answers your questions. It was a huge undertaking so you really have to be prepared to devot a lot of time. It took us two full weekends then each night after work for a whole week. You can also see the progress in my blog at jchokie.blogspot.com Good luck!