Unless they are peeling like crazy you don't have to strip the cabinets to paint them.

The most important step in painting kitchen cabinets is getting them clean and you can do this by washing with ammonia and water. Then you will want to sand the surface to give the next coat of paint something to stick to and then wipe the sanding dust off with a damp rag.

Then you will need to spot prime the areas that have chipped off and you shouild use a pigmented shellac for this as it has great adhesion.

The type of paint ot use for the finish paint depends on what is on the cabinets now. Do you know if it is oil or acrylic/latex? If you don't know you can test with some GOOF OFF on a rag and if it softens and makes the paint gummmy it is latex and if not it is oil based.

I can not stress the cleaning step to much.

Hope this helps out and answered your questions.

Is there any way to fill in the holes where the chips are so it isn't uneven ?