Hi Darlene, I would think that you would have to prme the cabinets first, but I'd ask someone at Home Depot. If they don't know they can call a representive at the Ralph Lauren company. I didn't do the tea stained, but did something called an aging process. It required the background to be painted white first. My doors and trim were already painted white so I tried it on it first and loved it so much that I decided to do my cabinets. It really brightens up the kitchen. I also like that if the cabinets get banged up by kids it only adds to the aging look. My only question is do we need to do some sort of sealer on the cabinets since water will definately get on them? Would you know if we need to seal the cabinets with some sort of varnish?