Custom Dresser Cost

Standard six-drawer dresser

$3,800 to $11,500

The most common custom dresser commission. Typically 48 to 66 inches wide with two columns of three drawers each, or three columns of two drawers, depending on the client's preference for wide shallow drawers versus narrow deep ones. The case uses solid hardwood for the sides, top, and face frame, with a plywood back panel and plywood drawer boxes on full-extension undermount slides. A white oak six-drawer dresser runs 46 to 60 hours from rough lumber to delivery, including milling, case joinery, drawer construction, hardware installation, sanding, and two coats of hardwax-oil finish.

Wide nine-drawer double dresser

$6,500 to $16,000

A wide dresser typically 72 to 84 inches across with nine drawers arranged in three columns, often with a center bank of three tall drawers flanked by pairs of shallower drawers. The scale of the piece demands careful attention to panel flatness and wood movement: a wide solid wood top is typically made from a glued panel with room to expand across the case, and the back is often a full-height plywood panel in a routed groove rather than a nailed-on panel. The grain flow across all nine drawer fronts is the most visible quality marker in a wide dresser and requires planning from the rough boards before cutting.

Tall boy or chest of drawers

$3,200 to $9,500

A tall chest of drawers is typically 18 to 22 inches wide, 16 to 18 inches deep, and 48 to 54 inches tall with four to six vertically stacked drawers. The narrow footprint makes tall chests ideal for small bedrooms. The primary structural challenge is racking: a tall narrow case is more susceptible to side-to-side movement than a wide dresser, so the back panel joinery and corner bracing must be robust. A matching pair of walnut tall boys flanking a bed headboard is one of the most requested bedroom sets in the custom furniture market today.

Gentleman's chest with doors and drawers

$9,500 to $18,000

A gentleman's chest combines a vertical section with full-length doors (often enclosing interior shelves or hanging rods for ties and belts) alongside a column of drawers, all in one piece. The added door construction, interior fittings, and overlay hinge work make this the most complex standard bedroom case piece. Door fitting, inset or overlay alignment, and soft-close hinge adjustment add 8 to 14 hours over a standard dresser build. Gentleman's chests in figured walnut or bookmatched white oak panels are among the highest-value bedroom furniture commissions for custom woodworkers.

Species is the primary cost driver for a custom dresser. A six-drawer dresser requires 75 to 100 board feet of primary species lumber for the case, top, face frame, and drawer fronts. At walnut prices of $10 to $18 per board foot, the lumber cost runs $750 to $1,800 before markup. The same board footage in white oak runs $525 to $1,200, in hard maple $375 to $900, and in poplar $225 to $500. After material markup, hardware, overhead, and margin, the species choice moves the final sale price by $2,000 to $5,000 on a six-drawer dresser.

Every additional drawer adds 3.5 to 5 hours of build time for the box construction, slide installation, face frame fitting, and gap adjustment. A four-drawer dresser might take 32 to 42 hours total; a nine-drawer wide dresser takes 65 to 82 hours. Drawer count directly multiplies the most time-intensive part of the build. Wide shallow drawers (18 inches tall) are faster to build than narrow deep drawers (6 to 7 inches tall) because the wider opening makes fitting easier, but both require the same slide and hardware costs per pair.

Full-extension undermount slides (Blum Tandem, Grass, or Hettich) are the industry standard for quality custom furniture. They allow the drawer to open fully without exposing the slides, create a clean look from the front, and include soft-close dampening. Quality undermount slides cost $25 to $50 per pair. A six-drawer dresser requires six pairs at $150 to $300 total. Side-mount full-extension slides cost $10 to $20 per pair but show on the interior walls and feel less refined. Cheap bottom-mount slides (ball-bearing or plastic) are not appropriate for a premium custom piece. Quote the slide brand and type explicitly in your estimate.

Drawer boxes can be made with hand-cut dovetails, machine-cut dovetails (router jig), box joints (finger joints), or pocket-screw and glue construction with 1/2-inch plywood. Hand-cut dovetails add 1 to 2 hours per drawer box and are a visible sign of craftsmanship when the drawer is open. Machine dovetails add 20 to 30 minutes per drawer but require a router table setup. Box joints are fast with a jig and look handsome in contrasting secondary wood. Pocket-screw plywood boxes are the fastest and most durable construction for everyday use drawers. Specify the joinery method in your quote as it signals the quality level to the client.

The visual quality of a custom dresser is largely judged by how well the grain flows across all drawer fronts as a continuous piece. For a six-drawer dresser, this means the woodworker must look-lay the drawer front stock across the full width of the piece before ripping to width, so the grain runs continuously across rows. This process requires selecting boards with enough width and clean figure to span the dresser, adding 10 to 15 percent to lumber cost from rejected or repositioned pieces. Walnut is the most demanded species for grain-matched drawer fronts because the straight chocolate-brown grain creates a dramatic continuous stripe effect.

A hardwax-oil finish (Rubio Monocoat, Osmo) on a white oak or walnut dresser costs $70 to $110 in materials and takes 3 to 5 hours across two coats. It produces a soft, natural look that is easy to spot-repair and lets the wood grain show at full depth. A hand-rubbed oil finish takes longer but is slightly less expensive in materials. A paint finish on a poplar or maple dresser costs $60 to $90 in primer and paint and takes 4 to 7 hours including primer, two color coats, and light sanding between coats. A lacquer or catalyzed finish provides the hardest surface but requires spray equipment and a ventilated spray area.