Simple for manual system using a line drill
- Throw out your imperial tape measures
- Butt joints, nail then screw
- Use leg levellers
- Use a 3 or 4 mm reveal at tops of fronts, and sides. 0mm reveal at bottom.
-Cabinet heights divisible by 32mm
-Doors and drawer fronts a mulitple of 32mm less your reveal. Example, drawer front height with 3mm reveal, 5x32-3 = 157mm
- Figure out where your starting hole needs to be to work with hinges and drawer slides, then never adjust this.
- All ends are applied
Do the math, work out your numbers, then follow the system.
For CNC,
You can deviate on heights, as the machine will place holes for slides and hinges appropriately.
I just summed up all the books in under 200 words.
You can use other joinery methods other than nail and screw, but it is the fastest, and it is plenty strong enough. Construction boring and dowels will be faster with significant investment in machinery. For mostly manual assembly, I dont think you can beat nail and screw. Every shop has a different construction method, but we use 5/8" material exclusively and backs are planted on. Using 1 thickness of material reduces inventory and waste.