Our upper cabinets are not in great shape. Some have water damage that have swelled the particle board. Others are separating at the steams perhaps from loading, perhaps from age. I had to take all the cabinets down to replace the ceiling and walls so this was a good time to patch them up as best I could.
I added wood glew and screws where needed to keep pieces together. Where the pieces were in too bad of shape, like with the water damage, I added a block of pine on the inside to provide something new to secure both sides to. And where the particle board swelling was mushrooming out past the Formica surface, I added wood glue to the particle board particles to keep it from expanding any more or falling out at the slightest touch. In the cabinet over the stove, I actually had to add a metal plate to the back to keep the cabinet together.
With all this work, the cabinets are structurally in much better shape now than when I started. And you don't notice any of this work from the outside before you open them. It was relatively quick and I got good results.
The ultimate would be to replace all these cabinets but that is a ways off. I think the current cabinets will likely last for a few more years yet, especially know that the ceiling and walls are water tight.
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