"Fred" wrote in message
...
I have an existing kitchen cabinet that I wanted to refinish. It has an
existing wood stain and some sort of semi gloss finish that is just too
tough to remove to bare wood. I'm using a palm sander and its taken
forever.
At this rate its faster to make new doors and drawer faces than try to
strip
it down to bare wood. Could the existing finish and stain be removed
faster
with chemical strippers?

Maybe, but that will remove the topcoat. It will not remove the stain which
is absorbed into the wood and pores. You could go from light to darker, but
the reverse doesn't work too well.

I don't think I could remove all the dark stain
embedded deep in the pores without taken my belt sander to it so Plan B is
to paint instead of refinish with a lighter stain.

Yup. Paint is a more realistic approach.


If I go with plan B, paint that is, what is a good primer and tough paint
for kitchen cabinets?

Any top-quality oil-based enamel. Latex is a no-no.