Furniture, Wood and Cabinetry Finishing - Refinishing table

I have a kitchen table I want to refinish....it has what appears to be a polyurethane coating on the table and chairs...if I want to paint or stain it do I just need to sand the surface well to do this or is it more involved?? Would it be easier to paint it (less prep??) or would it be the same either way?

TIA

Unless you want to use stained polyurethane,you must remove the existing finish to stain as the stain must penetrate the wood to be absorbed.So basically stained poly would be easier but also you'd get a darker finish than refinishing and staining as you'd get a combined effect of old and new finish.Prep for stained poly would include light sanding and cleaning the surface.

Painting would require sanding lightly,cleaning and priming with an oil or shellac based bonding primer (oil is fine) the exisitng surface then painting with a quality enamel probably oil based for durability.Some waterbourne enamels are good too,easier to work with.

Go to a real hardware store or paint store for your needs.Big box stores offer no qualified help to assist you and often sell lower quality product to meet price point rather than higher quality.