I spend most of my time in the kitchen. Not because I really love cooking, but because it takes me all day long to feed 4 kids and 1 husband 3 times a day. Just kidding.....kind of. I am no expert at re-doing cupboards, but I have done them in two kitchens now and I have people asking me about how I do it, so here goes.
Step 1: SAND. Take all the cupboard doors off and sand everything. It's really pretty simple and I did all of these steps by myself. You want to rough up the edges of the cupboards without the doors on and then take a sander to the doors too. This will make it easier for the paint to adhere.
Step 2: PAINT. You want to get a really good, brand name paint. I like the paint and primer combined because it is thicker and doesn't need as many coats. I have used paint that I just had extra of too so that really kept the cost down. I have had 2 pretty small kitchens so I needed less than a gallon per kitchen. You want to put on several coats, but wait until the paint is dry before applying another. I like to use sponge brushes. They don't last as long, but they don't leave as many brush marks either. Make sure you get all the edges in the kitchen that are left without the doors on.
Step 3: SAND AGAIN. If you want a really great finish on the cupboard doors sand them again after all the coats of paint are dry. You will need several more coats than if you're not sanding at the end. If you put a different color underneath and sand harder in some areas then others you can get a really rough, two tone look. (If that's the look you want)
Step 4: STAIN. I have done two different things when it comes to staining the cupboards. (No stain is fine too) The first kitchen I did I put stain all over the entire door and all the trim and then wiped it off. It was cool, but after a while I thought it just looked dirty. The most recent kitchen I did a friend showed me how to just stain the edges and then wipe off the excess with baby wipes. I liked that much better.
Step 5: PROTECT IT. You are going to want to put clear protective coating on everything. You will want several coats if you have children especially. You will want to wait for each coat to dry before applying another one. I have used Poly Urethane and Poly Acrylic before. I prefer Poly Acrylic because the Poly Urethane yellows after a time.
Step 6: FINISHING TOUCHES. Go buy some hardware for your cupboards. It really makes a difference. Those huge, blank stretches of wood without cupboard doors could use some molding and some bead board too. Just make sure you do just as many coats of paint and finish on the bead board and molding as you did the cupboards.
That's it! Re-doing the cupboards has cost me less than $80 each time and I really love how it cleans up the look of the kitchen. For me it makes it much more peaceful and I enjoy being in it so much more. I hope this helps.
Lots of love, Nicole
If you're not growing your own garlic, may I suggest to buy it pre-minced? It's the most fabulous thing and saves you loads of time. 
