TL;DR: Do the pros around here think clients and people in general still value dovetailed kitchen drawers?

Long version:

I’m going to be remodeling my parents’ kitchen. It’s a moderate sized cabinet job, maybe on the higher-end as far as details and hardware go. Prefinished ply carcasses, inset beaded face frames, applied drawer fronts, blum hardware, painted (thank god).


I’m really torn about drawer material and drawer construction.


On the one hand, plywood drawer boxes are fast to make (I’d probably use lock miters) and using prefinished maple ply and prefinished edge-banding essentially eliminates having to finish the boxes. The only tedious part of using ply would be applying and trimming the edge-banding. It becomes fairly more tedious if I decide to use solid banding because then I’d have to finish it, but that would be the ultimate in durability. One downside to using ply is that I can’t easily get 5/8” prefinished in this area, so I’m limited to 1/2” and 3/4” thicknesses. 3/4” feels a little chunky to me but maybe going 1/2” on smaller drawers and 3/4” on larger would be ok.


Then there’s solid wood drawers (probably poplar) which offer the option for dovetailing. A significant amount of extra time over plywood boxes for prepping and dovetailing the stock, plus the boxes would need to be finished. Would allow for 5/8” thickness which I think is a sweet spot for kitchen drawers. I don’t mind the extra time IF it feels worth to me. My folks (clients) don’t have an opinion about this. My wife has a strong opinion that dovetailed drawers are the ultimate, but it’s not her kitchen.


Since I’m spending so much time on this kitchen, I’d like it to seem/feel as high-end as possible, especially given that the house may be sold in a few years. However, I also don’t want to waste time on a process that may not really add anything to perceived quality. I know the dovetailed drawer box debate is an old one. Just thinking aloud and looking for opinions. I’d especially love to hear from those of you doing pro kitchen work these days in upper mid to high-end homes. Do people still value solid dovetailed drawers like they used to? This is a 4000 sqft home in the SF Bay Area.