I pretty sure that KYB are OEM on the Corolla. Monroe also makes them for our cars, but some have had some ride height issues or fitment problems in some model years. I liked the KYBs better, since they are about the same price as Monroe struts and were the OEM brand choice. Koni and Bilstein are some others that are very good - but many have reported that they ride a bit harder than they expected. But if you want better damping control - those two would be some of the best choices in a replacement strut. You could also opt to replace the strut / spring combo with a coilover system. Will ride hard enough to rattle your teeth, but none can touch those for ultimate adjustability.
Lifespan will depend on driving conditions and how you drive the car. If you are running aftermarket performance springs - you must repalce the struts to match. Otherwise the struts will not last very long (sometimes as shorts as a few months). Lifespan can vary quite a bit - I've seen some go out at 30K miles some last as long as 250K miles. Most people will get something in between. If you got 100K out of them, you probably did pretty good.
Right now, I'm running KYB GR-2 struts that ride as smoothly as the OEM ones. I also replaced the pillow-ball mount (top strut mount) and the boot that protects the strut, you can reuse the old one - but for the price difference (especially labor), makes good sense to change them. They ran me about $80 each and about $35 for the upper mount and I did it myself in about 4 hours (Tirerack). Toyota dealer here quoted me $1400 for all four with new springs included out the door, without the springs $1100. They were quoting the struts at $150 each with the rest in shop materials and labor. Some independents ran the job as low as $800 for all four struts (no springs). So shop carefully.
