Designing Kitchens and Bathrooms - Refinishing oak cabinets with white paint.

We have oak kitchen cabinets and we wish to refinish them with some shade of white paint to get the "European" look. Do I need to strip the old varnish first or can I just sand? Also I want to use a water based paint. Any suggestions as to a particular paint and method of application? I believe using spray cans gives the smoothest finish. Opinions? Thanks.

Welcome to the forums

You can sand and prime the cabinets without having to strip the finish. The primer must be solvent base but the top coats can be latex. I hightly recomend using a waterborne enamel - it cleans up with water, dries fast and wears as good as oil enamel.

It is hard to get a good job on large surface area with spray cans. They don't put out enough paint. A good job can be done with a quality brush.

here is more info on painting cabinets:
http://forum.doityourself.com/showthread.php?t=292098

Thankyou for the reply, we appreciate the help, Rob.