I firmly doubt that as I am friends with quite a few local cabinet makers and 75% of my shop came from just buying a whole cabinet makers shop as he was retiring.

Just look at the “big four” table saw, jointer, planer, bandsaw. My SS is probably about $6000 w/ core attachments. But then add another ~$2k for accessories like jessem hold downs, extra brakes, fence attachments, etc. Bandsaw is another $3500. Jointer is 3000. Planer is 3000. Accessories for those tools probably adds another $1000. So in just those four tools alone your looking at $18,500. That’s a lot of money. My dust collection system w/ piping is every bit of $10k itself. But then small tools really add up as well. I run mostly dewalt tools. I have at least $5000 in just batteries - this might be inflated simply because my garden tools like leaf blower, edger, chainsaw, weedeated, etc are all dewalt too. Some power tools are ridiculously expensive like tracksaw, domino, lamello. I also don’t do just woodworking so I have metal working tools like welders and plasma cutters, I have 3D printers, CNC, etc. I also have framing tools and my tool bags which isn’t really fine woodworking either. Shit my outfeed table probably cost $5000- the top is 3/4 HDPE that I had a sign shop route 96mm dog holes to match Festool and then extruded aluminum base

But here’s the thing- I like having nice and convenient tools. Could I do everything with just the basics? Yes. Absolutely but it’s a matter of having fun for me. I am not a production shop trying to make as much profit as possible. Why would I want spend a bunch of time drilling dowels when I can just use a domino?

I am the director of a property insurance claims department and I see this DAILY. You guys don’t realize how much you have in tools until you have a water loss, fire, or something similar. Do you know that an average H03 policy on a $300k house has only $100k ish dollars in personal property coverage. Imagine your whole house caught fire, is that enough to buy everything? Do you have a list of tools of tools so you can send to your insurance company? I bet you anything most people on this sub have at least $50k in tools and they don’t realize it. I honestly would have pegged my shop around $30-50k if it wasn’t for the fact that I made an itemized list of every tool w/ cost model, serial number, brand/manufacturer, and purchase date along w/ a video of me walk the shop for insurance purposes