Can cabinet refinishing be this easy?

As I mentioned in previous blog posts, I'm remodeling two of our bathrooms in preparation for selling our house in the next year or two.  These aren't my dream bathrooms.  I'm just neutralizing and updating them to 2012 standards - not 1997 when we built it.

Since I obviously don't want to pour a ton of money into these bathrooms, I'm not planning to replace the cabinets or  their cultured marble beige tops.  But both cabinets are that 1980's standard oak finish.  Albeit popular in it's time, but not so anymore.

Instead of replacing them, I'm climbing out of my comfort zone and using a product I first found over a year ago at Home Depot (Lowe's carries it too).  It's a product by Rust-oleum called Cabinet Transformations.  It's a paint product that you can use to basically refinish your cabinets without stripping, sanding or priming. 

It uses a four step process where you apply a deglosser that prepares the surface to accept the new paint.  From what I've read online, this process replaces typical stripping and sanding. 

Step two is an application of a bond coat.  Step three (which is optional) is applying a decorative glaze.  And step four is applying a protective coat (think polyurethane).

The product comes in 24 colors to choose from using the "Dark Color Kit" and there's another 11 color options in the "Light Color Kit."

I'll be going with either the "Chocolate" or "Espresso" color.  Haven't nailed that down quite yet, but I figure I won't start this project for another week or so...so there's still time to ponder. 

The company's website offers testimonial photos of several hundred people who have used this product and think their cabinets or countertops (there's a countertop product too) look fabulous.  

However, I don't want to make this project sound like it's going to be a simple 1, 2, 3, 4 and BAM...new looking cabinets. Quite the contrary.  Almost everyone who comments online agrees that while the results look fabulous, it takes some hard work and a lot of time! 

I'm honestly quite a bit nervous about beginning this project because if it should go awry, well, I'm going to have a huge expense removing the cabinets (the floor is now tiled right up to them) and replacing them. 

So wish me luck!  And if anyone has ever used this product and has tips... I'm all ears!