Hi,
A CNC router has to be much stronger and more rigid than a laser cutter as the router will be trying to fight it as it cuts the wood hence they require more powerful motors/controllers.
I built myself a CNC router a while back and was surprised just how easy it was mechanically. The benefit of building your own is that if you are not happy with it you can just start again and use the same motors etc. so you have not lost much money and gained a lot of experience.
BTW - When using Inkscape I find http://jscut.org/ or even better https://cam.openbuilds.com/ work well.
also worth having a look at the esp32 version of GRBL as it is pretty impressive - https://github.com/bdring/FluidNC