Make sure your beans are fresh - old beans will never get creamy and tasty not matter how long you cook them if they aren't fresh.

you must use dried, not canned, if texture is an issue for you. In addition, I suggest using the Thomas Keller method. I can't find it online (it is in the Ad Hoc cookbook) but here is his recipe for Cassoulet, which is also pretty amazing and features tasty beans.

http://www.williams-sonoma.com/recipe/thomas-kellers-slow-cooker-cassoulet.html

I think chickpeas are a lot easier to get into than other beans and they are so versatile. Frankly, I'd say start out with a name-brand can rather than making your own - why invest all the time with a big batch if you might not love them? And as much as I want the store brand to be as good as some of the others, a lot of times they just aren't.

I like to toss garbanzo beans (also called chickpeas) in olive oil and spices and roast them for a bit to crisp them up on the outsides. You could probably do this before adding beans to many of the recipes.

What you describe sounds like Navy beans. They are smaller, taste great in salads, make a great hummus, and their skins are thick.

I have also heard that adding baking soda during soaking the beans when they're still dry helps to remove their skins--my mother swears by it but I've never tried it myself.

I didn't like them either. Then we went veg and I just started making them more often. Cassoulet is great. White bean, potato and spinach soup is nice and creamy. When the beans start to break down and get creamy is when I like them the most. The chickpea of the sea sandwich from the Kitchn got me really loving chickpeas. Maybe it's the winter, but now I crave white beans all the time, like artichoke, bean and roasted red pepper spread on toast with olive oil and salt and pepper. Getting hungry...

I love beans! Which is probably a good thing, because we're vegetarian. I have to admit that I don't make them from scratch very often, because I'm not so good at planning ahead. I've found that goya makes really good beans - cheap, tasty, and they have so many varieties.

I'd say I use beans five times a week! I use them in soups, stews, tacos, savory pies, dips, kofta... I have quite a few recipes! Too many to post here, probably, but you can search by bean type here...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/

Just as an example, you can add beans to veggie burgers or savory pies, and they're texture becomes mixed with all of the other ingredients so it shouldn't be a problem any more!

Here's a burger with white beans, roasted mushrooms and pecans...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2012/07/05/roasted-mushroom-white-bean-pecan-burgers-grillable/

or zucchini chickpea kofta...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2012/07/05/zucchini-chickpea-kofta/

D'oh! THEIR texture.

Rancho Gordo beans. You'll never look back.

I second what Jennifer Julia said - white beans, cooked for a while until they start breaking down, makes them nice and creamy. Try sauteeing some garlic and greens (fand mushrooms or bacon if you're feeling fancy), add some pasta water or broth and a can of cannellinis, and just cook until they are very soft and the liquid starts to get starchy. That over pasta, has been one of my favorite cheap, quick meals for years.

i think you need to focus on three things:

1. fresh beans: i have to second the rancho gordo selection, they're super yummy! but you can also usually get fresh beans at farmers' markets this time of year. also, avoid the bagged beans in the grocery isles and stick to bulk beans in a heavily-trafficked natural foods store.

2. slow and low cooking: if you have a slow cooker, this is your best bet for really creamy beans. cook 'em for 8 hours. the oven method works, too (but i think you should still soak them first if you're using the oven method).

3. cook them long enough: sometimes, i get impatient and pull the beans off the heat before they're fully cooked. they don't taste as good and their texture is skeevy. don't do that!!!

Have you tried a pressure cooker? I've found it does wonders for texture. Also use generous amount of oil when cooking beans.

I think dried beans are your answer here. What I usually do is pour some beans, covered in plenty of water in a pot in the kitchen when I leave for work in the morning. By the time I get home they've been sitting there for about 10 hours and are well on their way to tenderness. If they aren't there yet, I'll apply a little heat to them while I prepare the rest of dinner. This will get them to desired tenderness 99 percent of the time, exactly in time for me to use them.

Try pickling your beans! Black eyed peas (much more like beans than peas, and known to taste "dusty") are not a huge favorite in my house, so I tried this recipe for New Years: http://www.food.com/recipe/pickled-black-eyed-peas-12825 We served them over kale in a hearty "Greek" salad, and got none of the dustiness. I imagine you could apply this technique to most kinds of beans and surprise your taste buds into liking them!

Oven!

Now I am dying to try pickled beans.Thanks for the suggestion, TATTERH00D.

I used to hate beans too! I am in the process of learning to like beans and the ones I started with are chickpeas and lentils. I never liked the texture of the lentils in stews that my parents made growing up, but once I discovered Ethiopian food, I was a lentil convert! I also really love Indian dal soup. I recommend the dal recipe from the Sundays at Moosewood cookbook.

Chickpeas were pretty easy because I like hummus. I'm still learning to like cannellini beans and I can't stand black beans unless they're ground up and mixed in some sort of dip. And I hate burritos with beans. It's a slow process, but I'm coming along!

I often find that I am more willing to try new things if I cook them, instead of someone else. It's like, okay, I like this ingredient, this ingredient, and that ingredient. And these bean things are pretty flavorless... And when the dish comes out, oh wow, that actually is delicious!

Best of luck in learning to like beans!

Thanks for all the great tips, everyone. I think I'll try ordering from Rancho Gordo. And hopefully this will help me move toward my annual New Year's resolution of eating less meat.

I'm Salvadoran so beans are a requirement (or you didn't eat in my household). Personally, I feel the magic in cooking beans is the use of aromatics. Beans cooked without carrot, garlic, onion, and bay leaf are just plain yuck. My Mexican in-laws make them with just plain water and they're some of the worst beans I've had. You also have to cook them very low and slow and an overnight soak is required!! The only chalky beans I've had were undercooked.

I've been working my way through all the bean selections at Rancho Gordo. Soak overnight, then the next day cook in fresh water, half an onion, a carrot. Last few minutes add some salt. They are delicious! Rancho Gordo's web site has some recipes.

A couple of suggestions - first of all, there are different species of dried beans. You might well have had an anomoly in Texas-style cooking, an African bean. Those usually are named "peas" though they are bean-form: blackeye peas, cowpeas (also mung beans and adzuki and soy (edamame) beans fit this species (mostly vigna, where American beans are mostly phaesolus) I do find their texture to be silkier. Lupini beans and favas (vicia) are other beans that are different from the American bean, and have a different texture. (See Pulses on Wikipedia here:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pulse_(legume)

Another variable: it's possible your beans, like edamamae, were cooked from fresh or frozen instead of dried or canned. I typically find that the vigna pea-style beans like blackeye peas are most often available this way, but sometimes you can find cranberry beans (or borlottis, still phaesolus vulgaris) - fresh in their pods at the grocery store, and their texture is excellent.

Steve from Rancho Gordo provides a brief description for each wonderful bean on their website, so you'll be able to know up front if a bean naturally has a thinner or thicker skin, or a denser or creamier texture. That way you can try the beans you're most likely to appreciate.

I'd suggest starting with butter beans (lima beans). They are large and creamy so hopefully the textural issues will be minimal. They are similar to navy beans, but even more delicious in my opinion. There's a recipe in Yotam Ottolenghi's Plenty which calls for frying lima beans and it gives them a pretty delicious crispness. Here is the recipe via David Lebovitz's blog.

I find that those who dislike beans also dislike lentils, so maybe lentils would be an appropriate gateway. I recently converted my stepdad to lentils by starting him off with red lentils in a dal curry. The lentils break down so the texture is more pleasing.

Like many commenters, I love beans too. I'd say my most successful recipe with non-bean lovers are these "cakes": http://kaleeats.blogspot.ca/2012/05/white-bean-cakes-topped-with-kale-and.html
Beyond that, I agree with other commenters about giving lentils a try. Particularly red lentils, which become so loose and de Puy which keep their shape (think caviar)

I never used enough salt in my beans - they tasted blech. A little grease helps, too.

I posted the original question and wanted to thank everyone for the great suggestions. I've been cooking dry beans in a pot and they are delicious! I use plenty of salt, some cloves or garlic, and a bay leaf. I don't know why I didn't figure this out before- there are many foods that I love fresh that I find repulsive from a can (beets, asparagus, peas, etc.) Why should beans be any different? It does mean for me that beans are less of a convenience food (I can't just dump a can into a salad), but I have been cooking large batches and freezing them. Thanks Faith and thekitchn readers!