Shop cabinets: Tom Clark vs. 32mm

[woodturner]

To be efficient in a full 32mm system requires, IMHO, the machine to drill multiple holes at a time with this spacing. ... That machine seems like overkill for what you describe.

FWIW, there are attachments for drill presses to gang drill the holes - one doesn't have to buy a $500 machine to do it. There are also some simple jigs that facilitate accurate drilling of the holes with a regular drill press.

The 32 MM system is just a well designed system to ensure all the pieces fit and work together. Even for "one off" projects, it's not really any more work to use a standardized system than to "wing it".