Vent: My dad told me to skip the primer on my kitchen cabinets and I regret it

He swore that a good sanding and two coats of semi-gloss paint would be fine on the old wood. I listened, and after about eight months, the paint is already chipping around the handles and on the edges. It's a real mess. I'm looking at redoing all 24 cabinet doors this fall, and I know the primer step will add a full weekend to the job. Has anyone else had paint fail because they skipped this step, or was my dad's advice actually solid for a different type of surface?