Painting Old Kitchen Cabinets - Part 2

To strip or not to strip?
Once you have decided, at least in theory, what is on the cabinets, you have to decide whether to strip the existing finish off or paint over the top. Stripping the paint off and starting again is always going to make a better job, but stripping paint from cabinets is very hard work and extremely messy, not to mention possibly requiring some noxious chemicals.
So why not just paint over the top of the existing finish? It might work, but it depends! There is a potential problem with painting over the existing finish. Paints are designed to perform up to a certain thickness. Beyond this thickness they lose their flexibility and are prone to cracking when the substrate moves. So if your factory applied finish has been put on nice and thick, painting more coats of paint on top of it is likely to cause problems with the finish ‘chipping’ off or cracking when its knocked. But if you are willing to risk that anyway, the next thing to consider is adhesion. A new coat of paint must adhere to the substrate,otherwise it could start flaking off. So a little bit about.....