I renovated our kitchen 6 years ago with IKEA cabinets, and I couldn't be happier. The cabinets still look fantastic, the construction is solid, and they make their hinges and drawer glides with optional dampers you can attach to quiet everything, and it's great to not hear slamming cabinets.
I uploaded the gallery of my renovation on IKEAFANS:
http://www.ikeafans.com/galleries/index.php?u=8336 You have to go to page 3 for what it looked like before (in fact, before we moved in, with the old owner's furniture). The kitchen LOOKED nice before, but was laid out poorly and very difficult to work in. I re-designed it to be a more efficient layout, galley-style kitchen with a giant island. We replaced the floor (old cheap pergo) with a nice high-end dupont laminate floor that looks like black slate tiles, special order at Home Depot. The counters are all laminate from home depot, and they cost about $650 - most expensive piece was the 36" deep island top.
We did the whole thing for about $6,000, and that number includes: cabinets, new dishwasher, countertops, flooring, stainless steel panel backsplash, hardware, interior fittings, paint, light fixtures, plumbing fixtures, and trim. We didn't move any utilities, just re-oriented how you approach them. The stove got moved over about a foot and the sink got pushed into the wall from that silly corner orientation. We did all the work ourselves: I did the planning and layout, assembled all the cabinets, and my dad came over and helped me with demolition and installation. We got the old stuff demo'd in a half of a friday, and the cabinet boxes (no doors), sink, stove, and dishwasher in place by Sunday night. Then I just did a few doors and drawers each evening during the week, and painted and put the new floor down the following weekend.
I love the look of it, but more importantly I love how it FUNCTIONS, and I couldn't be happier. I'm also happy with the laminate counter, as it is a workhorse and we picked a nice one that has a stone look to it. That said, if I ever did want to replace or upgrade the counters to some flashier, I'd probably go with manufactured quartz (dupont Zodiaq) or some sort of recycled glass countertop.
This may not answer you frugal question about cabinet painting, but it's another option, especially if the functionality of your kitchen is a major irritation. I would have been happy enough with the original white cabinets and the look of the old kitchen if it didn't suck so much to do anything in it. You don't really get to know a kitchen until you spend some time working in it, or at least trying to work in it.