We have light maple cabinets in our kitchen, which are definitely dated at this point. Apparently they are easier to paint than oak, but it seems like a pretty big undertaking. Has anyone done this themselves? Tips or lessons learned?
My first reaction is "DON'T DO IT!!!" assuming they aren't painted already I'd sand, sand, and then refinish. Maple is not cheap and is beautiful on tis own. Unless its' marred somehow please don't paint.
Ok - with that out of hte way, I've painted cabinets, and it is time consuming and a pain (and can take you longer than resurfacing).
STep 1: remove all hardware and use a good degreaser
Step 2: Sand, extensively, moving up through the grits from 80 to 150 or so
Step 3: Wipe down with mineral spirits
Step 4: Primer coat (and let dry)
Step 5: First coat of paint
Step 6: Sand with 150/180
Step 7: Paint coat #2. Wait 24 hours.
Step 8: Polyurethane top-coat x2.
Step 9: Wait several days before use as paint cures. Paint may dry in 24 hours but it takes up to 30 days to cure
The last set of cabinets I painted was for a relatively small 120 sqft kitchen, and my father and I spent ~30 hours cleaning, sanding and prepping. Each coat of paint took about 2 hours to apply (5 total: primer, two color coats and the polyurethane). After each coat we had to wait several hours (usually we just waited until the next day).
This project took us over a full week of on-again-off-again work with 2 people working together.
Hope that gives you some perspective. It's a fairly simple project to undertake, but it is a very lengthy and labor-intensive project if you want it to look professional and to be durable.