We live in an area of New England where it’s more expensive to rent than own. 2 years ago we bought a house built in early 60s with solid structures, but the interior hadn’t been updated in about 20-30 years. The worst part is the kitchen: old cooktop with a grill, old range hood, leaky dishwasher, laminate countertop that needs to be replaced, along with cabinet doors with missing magnets (kitchen floor was replaced in recent years, thankfully). As soon as we moved in, we replaced the cooktop to an induction and a new range hood, as well as a new dishwasher. Now we’re finally getting to replacing the countertop, likely will go with a big box store or ask around for a local company. As fairly new homeowners, honestly it’s overwhelming to even do the research for a kitchen update. My SO and I are normally really busy, so we’re only looking to make the kitchen more comfortable/bearable. The cabinets are solid, would the most direct way be replacing the cabinet doors and hardware if I want to make the kitchen more usable for as cheap as possible? It’s a full size kitchen with two L shaped corners, dishwasher is completely separated from cabinets.

I do apologize if I sound like I haven’t done much research. I keep trying to do research for it every few months, but get overwhelmed each time after a few hours. I’m not sure if I should just call a contractor. Any advice/input is appreciated!

Pictures of the cabinets: https://imgur.com/a/T2JnRVo?s=sms