When I first started making bureaus I made them with dovetails in every conceivable place possible. The bureau tops were dovetailed to the bureau sides. The drawer frames (the wood frames the drawers slide on) were dovetailed to the bureau sides. The drawers themselves were dovetailed on all four corners. This makes for a very beautiful bureau but is also time consuming and therefore adds quite a bit to the cost of the finished piece. I still make bureaus this way (see 5 Drawer Bureau ) for customers who request this construction method but over the years I have had requests for less expensive bureaus. To make a less expensive bureau that is basically the same as my original bureaus, I substituted other construction techniques for most of the dovetails in my bureaus. The drawer fronts were still dovetailed but the other dovetails were replaced by simpler joints. The bureaus were still very ruggedly constructed and had all of the other details of the originals but the elimination of much of the dovetailing cut a considerable amount from the cost of the bureau. An example of a bureau with this construction is my 3 Drawer Bureau.
I now offer the following options for case piece construction:
I also show 3 different base details on my case pieces:
The prices shown in my furniture catalog for case pieces are the prices as shown. Please call if you would like a price for a different construction method.