Should I paint kitchen cabinets or hire a professional ?

Take a door to your local hardware/paint store and ask for advice. I think your cabinets are lovely and would not want to paint them. My daughter did her own and did a lovely job. It is definitely a doable job for you.

You can ... remove the hardware with a power screwdriver first, then make sure you remove ALL accumulated dirt and grease ... then buy this and follow instructions ... sometimes trading out hinges for new ones can be tricky (subtlety different screw spacing), but replacing pulls is easy ... https://www.homedepot.com/p/Insl-X-Cabinet-Coat-1-gal-Kit-Includes-White-Trim-and-Cabinet-Enamel-with-Applicators-Sandpaper-and-Tack-Cloth-CC4510G99-1K/202494970

YOU CAN DO IT!

Make sure they are clean and dry. Remove the doors and hardware. Mark the doors and cabinets with tape where they go. Lightly sand the doors and cabinets to remove any gloss and roughen the surface for paint with 220 grit sandpaper or a green Scotch Brite pad.. Use a tack cloth or damp rag to remove dust after sanding. Prime with a stain blocking primer like Zinsser 123, KILZ,or BIN and have it tinted to the color of the top coat. This will prevent dark or stained surfaces from showing through the top coat. Acrylic, or water base paints are low-fume and clean up easily with water. Alkyd, or oil-base, paints require good ventilation because the paint contains solvents that can irritate your lungs and make you feel sick. Alkyd options require mineral spirits for cleanup, but they provide a hard, durable paint finish. Whichever you use, buy the best-quality paint you can afford for a lasting kitchen cabinet finish. Seal with at least three coats with a water based polyurethane. Use a small foam roller and foam brush for a smooth finish.

Chalk paint is extremely durable and recommended for cabinets. (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eBzbzMIAlQQ)

I roll paint on the entire area first,then I use a nice 1-2 inch brush (I like an angle brush by Shur brush or the round brush like Annie Sloan uses) to get into any crevices. You can lightly roll over if you want to eliminate brush marks. Sponge rollers leave very little pattern. You can do this!

I would also use chalk paint! However, you can make you own by buying the color paint you want your cabinets to be, and then purchasing drywall compound. Then, mix 3 parts paint with 1 part drywall compound and that makes the chalk paint! I actually did this with our cabinets and I love it! I then sealed it with a matte polycrylic. Here's the link to my blog if you want to see our kitchen and how we did thing! www.greywoodmama.com .

I will also attach a photo here! :) Good luck!

Hi Peggy, I am a widow, too, and never imagined that I could tackle such a large project on my own, but I have surprised myself. My mobile home cabinets looked much like yours so I removed all the hardware first with an electric drill, marked the doors, filled the nail holes with 3M Patch and Prime, then painted them with General Finishes Milk Paint in Seagull Gray. I considered using chalk paint but it looks very flat and needs to be waxed so I used milk paint because it has a slight sheen. Milk paint needs absolutely no sanding or priming so the job went very fast. I painted three coats to cover the dark doors with a 'chalk' paintbrush. My kitchen has been transformed and I am very proud of my accomplishment. I hope you will give it a try, it does wonders for your morale.

How adept at painting are you? If you have painting experience, then you'd probably be ok. Painting cabinets is a lot harder than painting walls. You may want to remove the doors, to avoid getting paint on the hinges. If so, be sure to number the doors and openings so you know what goes where. Perhaps only work on one section at a time, so you're not overwhelmed with cabinet doors everywhere.

The cabinets and doors/drawers will need to be be washed to rid of grease. Once dry, it's really important to use a good bonding primer. I love THIS BONDING PRIMER! It's water clean up, goes on smooth, dries quickly.

After you're done priming, you would paint on 2 coats of latex paint. For kitchen cabinets I'd recommend satin finish.

Don't get cheap, junky paint! It's so not worth it!

( HERE IS a great example of good quality paint for this project)

I am so sorry for your loss. For such an important project that is such a focal point in your home, I suggest having a paint pro do the project. For what it would cost you in terms of tine and materials, you can't beat having a professional painter paint your kitchen.

That is so hard to deal with I am sure. The loss of a loved one especially after 42 years of marriage has to be difficult. One of the reasons Dixie Belle started was the owner, Suzanne Fulford, was dealing with very difficult family issues and started painting furniture for therapy. 5 years later, here we are now the leading chalk mineral paint company in the USA. I recommend painting them yourself for the therapy alone.

It is super easy to paint your kitchen cabinets with Dixie Belle.

Step one : Clean with White Lightning

Step two : Paint one to two coats of Dixie Belle Chalk Mineral paint

Step Three : Use Gator Hide for a water resistant finish.

I am attaching some kitchens that have been painted with Dixie Belle Paint so you can see the outcome.

Also, we did have a series of LIVE videos on a step by step tutorial of how to paint your kitchen cabinets. If you would like to watch them....

Day one : https://www.facebook.com/DixieBellePaint/videos/1609328872527961/

Day two : https://www.facebook.com/DixieBellePaint/videos/1610860225708159/

Day three: https://www.facebook.com/DixieBellePaint/videos/1612437375550444/

Day four: https://www.facebook.com/DixieBellePaint/videos/1615506548576860/

Teri - www.dixiebellepaint.com If you ever need help or have any questions you can feel free to call us at 813-909-1962 during business hours. We have a full staff here eager to help you!

Best of luck to you!