2. Priming/caulking
This is probably the most important step. Prior to painting, all the cabinets, doors, drawer facings need to be primed. I spray prime the doors and drawers at the shop. However, I do the actually cabinets themselves by hand (brush/microfiber 4 inch rollers).

I don't like spraying in people's homes for obvious reasons. And the hand-finished cabinets look great. The primer must be a high bonding primer to prevent chipping and scratching. I like to use Styx. In my opinion, its the best bonding primer on the market.

Once the prime coat is on, we can see what needs to be caulked.
We then lightly caulk any noticable seams and cracks. Filling the nail holes as well.