Yes, with a liquid deglosser and a bonding primer instead. Your sprayed kitchen still runs $2,000 to $6,500 either way. What you cannot skip is degreasing, and in a kitchen built before 1978 the containment that replaces dry sanding adds $350 to $1,200.
Most people asking Custom Cabinets Lynn about this are picturing the dust rather than the sandpaper. On an older kitchen that instinct is right, for a reason nobody mentions. In a home built before 1978, dry sanding old paint is not allowed once the job disturbs more than 6 square feet of painted surface. That is 454 CMR 22.00, the state lead-safe rule, and the federal one sits behind it. One wall of original cabinets passes 6 square feet in the first ten minutes.
So on the older kitchens here the question answers itself. We strip with chemicals or sand wet rather than dry. We seal your room off. We clean down with a HEPA vacuum and a damp wipe instead of a broom. That is the $350 to $1,200 line, and a quote without it is describing a different job rather than a cheaper one.
What sanding was ever for is grip, and a bonding primer gives you that out of a can. Where sanding really is optional we degrease with a strong detergent and wipe down with a liquid deglosser. Then a primer made to stick to a slick surface goes on before any color does.
The step you cannot buy your way out of is the grease. Your doors carry a film of cooking oil that sandpaper does not lift, it only polishes it flatter. Paint then sticks to the film instead of to your door, and the finish peels at the handle and along the top rail inside a season. That one failure is behind almost every complaint about a cheap cabinet-painting job, and it is a prep failure rather than a paint failure.
The ranges are on our cabinet cost guide, and spraying against brushing covers how the finish itself goes on.
Related questions
Does a no-sand primer work on old varnished oak?
It works where your varnish is sound and dull. Where yours is brittle and lifting, no primer saves it and we strip instead. That is the surcharge that adds 20% to 45% to a $2,000 to $6,500 painting job.
Is skipping the sanding cheaper?
Barely. Degreasing, deglossing and priming take about as long as scuffing does, so what you save is dust rather than money. In a kitchen built before 1978 you pay the $350 to $1,200 containment line whichever way we prepare the surface.
How long before I can put things back on the shelves?
3 to 5 days, then treat it gently for another 30. Cabinet enamel is dry to the touch long before it is hard, and loading your shelves on day two is what leaves stacking marks that never come out.