I used the wood grain effect contact paper on my cabinets and it looked great. I attached the paper with the wood grain going horizontally on my bottom cabinets and then removed the doors on the upper cabinets (all those horrid yellow formica rental cabinets) and it looked nice and modern. I'll see if I have a pic on my flickr account. In any case, it looked great and when I went to remove it (yesterday, in fact, because I'm moving) it came of cleanly and easily. Good luck! Do it!

I would love to know what people's experiences are as well. I have hideous bile-yellow fridge that I've contemplated painting with chalkboard paint, but don't really have the time.

I have a friend who bought a giant roll of black contact paper and used it to make her own "wall stickers" that she used on her fridge and cabinets, but didn't cover the whole thing. But the stainless steel contact paper sounds great!

http://www.flickr.com/search/?q=kitchen&w=16831702%40N00

Those are the kitchen photos on my flickr which have some earlier incarnations of my kitchen with contact paper. I'm not too handy, so it could probably be done even better than shown. (Also some inspiration photos mixed in.)

I have those same horrible cabinets too. I also was thinking of covering them with Contact paper, but I have not seen any in local stores. Does anyone have suggestions where I could buy it online?

Target has tons of contact paper (as does Cliff's Variety in the Castro). The fake stainless steel paper is great, I used it on my old dishwasher and it was huge improvement that took only 10 minutes and $7.

Lisa, I guess I have very similar kitchen! :-)
I wanted to do the same thing, but as we rent, I gave up. It would obviously be a waste of money... but I still think about doing it, someday.
In my opinion, if you use solid color, it will look good. Personally I´m afraid of wood effects, mostly it looks just very fake. But if you choose gloss white (that´s what I originally wanted to do), I think it won´t be too obvious it´s a contact paper. I was also thinking about red, yellow, orange, grey... Or combination of these. If there was better supply of contact papers in our country, it would be super easy to do this. The quality should be good, my parents did this to their kitchen long long time ago and it still looks fine.

I covered my almond-coloured ones with white contact paper, and unless you inspected them you'd never know.
I also stained the wood to a darker colour using some tinted varnish stuff. Much better.

Keep in mind,for a little bit more money,you could use actual wood veneer instead of contact paper. They sell sheets of it at Lowes, just use it as you would contact paper (it is very thin and I cut mine with an exacto knife) but use liquid nails to adhere it to the cabinets. I have also used wainscotting cut to size on the same cabinets that you have,it was a lot of work but it came out beautiful,I even put a piece on the dishwasher to match!

Aubuchon Hardware carries a good selection of contact paper, and I had a very easy time ordering online: http://housewares.hardwarestore.com/37-shelf-liner-and-contact-paper.aspx
The contact paper wasn't too expensive; the online form was easy to use, and delivery time was reasonable.

Part of what I ordered was contact paper that is designed to function like chalkboard paint. I haven't yet used it, but will report back if I do.

If you really want to spend money, the Wilsonart laminate sheets can't be beat. Contact paper is iffy--the stainless is okay, and the cork is great, but doesn't come in a large roll.

OMG I think I just found a way to do up my kitchen quickly, cheaply and easily!!! Now I just have to hope that I can get some contact paper where I live!!!
http://www.notyourgoddess.blogspot.com/

I got some of the stainless contact paper at the Container Store, and it looks beautiful (very realistic) but I have found it hard to use (tends to get lots of air bubbles that can't be squeejeed out). I am trying to use it on my (plastic) trash can, though, so you might have better luck with the plain flat surface of your cabinets.

There are also peel-and-stick versions of real wood veneer available; just Google "PSA veneer sheets" and you'll find a number of vendors online.

I rent as well and am interested in contact paper, but could you remove them afterwards?

http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/ny/insects-pests/blogging-new-york-magazinethe-everything-guide-to-pests-036431

Roaches love contact paper.

I just painted mine with zinsser bin primer. I don't know what color I want to paint the cabinets yet, but so far I've painted the wood part coral (my style is very vintage) and it looks SO CUTE!

Can anyone tell me the manufacturers of some of those contact papers? I'm in Iceland and haven't found a local supplier, having the name of the manufacturer might help me find something. Thanks a bunch :)
http://www.notyourgoddess.blogspot.com/

i contact-papered my fridge and stove in 'brushed aluminum', and have absolutely LOVED it. Corners are tricky with contact paper, as it doesn't like to bend around the sharper corners very well, but for flat surfaces it's fine.
Air bubbles won't squeegie out once the whole surface is stuck down, so it's all about starting from one side and pressing it on very carefully and evenly along an entire length.

Sorry for the overly yellow-ish tone of the image...it was taken pre-good camera.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jessica_anne/2227470358/in/set-72157603814658429/

I covered my kitchen and bathroom cupboards with white contact paper. I couldn't get it to look good on the rounded wood trim, but it looks like its there for contrast.

Bonus: it makes the kitchen a LOT easier to clean.

Cliff's has a good assortment, and surprisingly so does Target.

this may seem slightly unrelated, but i saw a super cheap contact paper credenza cure on design sponge once that i've been completely obsessed with since. seriously - that shit looks GREAT.

http://www.designspongeonline.com/2008/03/diy-wednesdays-the-contact-paper-cure.html

i guess my point is, even if you can't cover everything, or edges are bubbly/uneven, you could maybe just go lighter and do the stripe thing? or maybe coat everything in a primer, then cut designs or stencils out of contact paper and put them on, ala this http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/chicago/inspiration-diy-contact-paper-window-shade-decals-063992 or this http://www.apartmenttherapy.com/sf/look/look-sophies-contact-papered-desk-045802 etc.

contact paper is, in my experience, relatively easy to remove if you absolutely need to, but looks awesome regardless. i can also recommend the stainless steel and the wood grains - there's links to wood grain contact paper thingies in the design sponge link.