Cabinets can be complicated

My prior design experience helped, but I still had a steep learning curve with SketchUp.  Thankfully, the software only costs $400/year.

I tried other 'Cabinet Design Tools', but they had limited capability and were difficult to master.  Some were cheap, but outdated.  Others were far too expensive for my sales volume.

My door supplier offered a system based on AutoDesk that integrated with their ordering system, but it cost $2000/year and I could not run AutoDesk alone!

OpenCutList is an excellent, free Extension for SketchUp!  Another learning curve, but worth it.

Wouldn't it be nice to slap a full sheet of plywood on a CNC machine and have ready-to-assemble panels fall out the other end?

Well, this is too big and expensive for my small shop.  It's also noisy running the vacuum system, dust collection, and router.  

There is another learning curve for the cutting software.

With a good track saw and blade, we can achieve straight, clean edges for banding.  Cross cuts make preliminary panels easy to move to the Slider.  Make a cutting table to save your back.

My Slider cuts perfectly square panels with clean edges better than any cabinet-style table saw.

I bought Grizzly's smallest slider and removed some guides to make it even smaller to fit.  Get the best blade, dial in the saw, then make beautiful cuts.

I don't really use it for cabinets.  Yes, it would be nice for chopping smaller parts, but my Slider can cross-cut and it's already set to the cabinet width for bottoms and tops so parts are CONSISTENT.

I don't have the space or patience for a big, fancy machine. I tried an 'automatic' machine with trimming and buffing.  It was a nightmare!  I bought a small, inexpensive machine to apply tape and adapted a table saw/dado to remove most of the excess tape. We hand-scrape, then trim ends perfectly on the Slider.

Go big or go home.  This is a central part of our operation.  You'll pay the price if dust is an afterthought.  My 3Hp machine is a beast!  If I was starting over, I'd use Oneida's free design service for ducts and gates.

Again - Go big or go home.  My 750 SF shop has 15 - 4' Double LEDs controlled by 3 occupancy sensors.  We see our work clearly and never touch a light switch.  They will also scare the s**t out of a burglar.