Chest of drawers construction

[Robert Pinsky]

I'm just completing a traditional chest of drawers, with a subtop dovetailed to the sides, and a top attached with screws up through the subtop. Unlike a top attached to a web frame, I don't see any reason to elongate these holes, as the top and subtop are identical with grain running in the same direction. A center kicker separating the 2 top drawers is in a dado under the subtop, and is to be attached from above - I am planning to elongate these holes. Any different thoughts?

[Lee Schierer]

Any time you have grain running the same direction, you don't need to elongate the holes. You must allow for seasonal dimension changes whenever you have grain running at 90 degrees, this is generally done with elongated holes or sliding joints. Wood moves seasonally no matter where you live and no matter what type of finish is applied if you don't allow for the movement you can have material failures.