Hot take: I spent 2 years cutting dados the hard way until a customer called me out
So I've been building kitchen cabinets out of my garage in Nashville for about 3 years now. Every single time I needed a dado for a shelf or a drawer bottom, I'd run the piece through my table saw with a stacked dado blade, flip it, and pray the alignment was close. Took forever and I'd always end up sanding or shimming to fix the gaps. Last Tuesday, a customer picked up a set of upper cabinets and just casually pointed at a shelf and goes 'uh, your groove looks a little wobbly there man.' That was it. I asked around and a crew at the local lumber yard told me I should have been using a router with a straight bit and a template guide this whole time. Tried it on a scrap piece that night and the fit was perfect on the first shot. Has anyone else had that moment where you realize you invented your own dumb method for years?