Vent: Picked pocket screws over dowels on a 12 drawer kitchen in Tacoma and I regret it
Client wanted a full drawer bank for a rental kitchen in Tacoma, so I had to pick between pocket screws and dowels on 12 maple drawers. Pocket screws were way faster and I got the whole bank done in about 3 hours, but after 4 months the fronts started racking and one drawer rubs so bad you have to yank it. Pulled the worst 5 and redid them with dowels and glue, which took a whole Saturday. Two of my old cabinets with dowels from 6 years back are still dead square, so now I keep a Dowelmax jig on the truck and eat the extra time. Anyone got a pocket screw trick that actually holds on drawer boxes, or is dowel and glue just the answer?
Twelve drawers and the fronts started racking after 4 months?! That's wild. I've always heard pocket screws were fine for drawer boxes but the way you describe one rubbing so bad you have to yank it sounds awful. Redoing 5 of them on a whole Saturday would make me lose my mind. Six years on the dowel cabinets and still dead square is a pretty strong scoreboard.