Kitchen cabinets from older generations of homes are often sturdily built. They are wood (plywood box with a wood façade and doors), they are not made from particle board. Still hinges and door pulls can be out of style, and the doors may be in rough shape (especially on base cabinets, which tend to get more abuse) or be stylistically out of date.
Two ideas to share include: 1) a simple hardware swap, of hinges and pulls, if the doors otherwise look good; or 2) reface the cabinets and have new doors (and hardware) installed. Doors are mostly what you see with cabinets, so this approach is significant improvement without the high cost of a total kitchen cabinet makeover, which requires countertop removal to replace base cabinets.
