painting kitchen cabinets

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a good rub with steel wool

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Do not do this. Sandpaper.

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Correct, and know that no matter how smooth the wood is prior to priming, the prime will raise the grain a bit and you will need to sand again, dust well and then apply the finish coats of paint.

Oh, and looking pretty good there.

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Yeah that looks great. I would knock the finish off of the painted ones first. If you can find it, Shellac based primer is great on cabinets. It is what my wife uses when she paints kitchens, a little side job she's had for a while now. If you have a HVLP sprayer, even better. Most of the ones she did were going from a dark stain to a light color paint, and the Shellac primer really covers the old stain very well. You might not need it, but the finished product is really smooth when she is done with them. Use an electric sander if you have one on the raw wood. Just a medium grit pad and it will go quickly. Prime, lightly sand again, another coat of primer, then light sanding with a finer grit before the paint.

thanks for all the comments guys. The cabinets are dark, not white like he ones you see in the back. Do you think i will need two coats of primer? I do have a small electric hand help sprayer i was planning to use for this.

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What kind of wood is that?

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My guess would be birch plywood and of course, finger jointed trim possibly in fir or possibly poplar since he is painting it.

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all of the joints are smooth and should not be able to tell once it is painted.

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I've used a lot of finger jointed trim over the years and it is a great alternative when painting the trim. It uses wood that would normally be made into pulp or burned to make energy at mills, so it's repurposing it and making it useful to the consumer.

Buying clear trim is $$$$ even before the lumber shortage. I'd hate to see what it is costing now.

And you're right, those joints are almost flawless, and if there's any small gaps, some spackling takes car of that.

Agree with the other posters about raising the grain first. Although that sanded birch ply or whatever you're using is typically flat, the fibers of the wood will in fact come to the surface and you'll be stuck.

Pics??