After re-reading the thread and replies, I realized that I should have said a bit more about myself and my motivations for building a CNC router. Here it goes.

Having a background in Physics/Mathematics, I'm fairly obsessed with precision - even in diy projects. I decided to make cabinets (around 20) for myself and a couple of relatives - both because I like using things which I've built, but also to have complete control over the end product. I made a promise a long time ago, and now people are expecting results - only 3 cabinets were produced so far...

Although I own almost every conceivable power and hand tool, it's very hard and time consuming to achieve the necessary level of precision to make quality cabinets (eg a 1mm error in a 2000mm piece would yield a very poor result) - this is not trivial to achieve at home.
After struggling to make just 3 cabinets, I decided that it would be better to take a different route, by making a cnc router. This would save me time in cutting, measuring, cutting again, planing, routing, planing again, etc. But above all, a CNC would guarantee the necessary precision and repeatability. Even better, it would have future benefits, allowing me to embark on more elaborate projects.
I can only do this in my spare time, and the wife is going nuts about the lack of cabinets. So she has given me two options: either I make them quickly, or she will go out and buy the cabinets herself. Surely some of you will probably empathize with this!

So, given the above scenario, and since I can't justify spending upwards of £5k for a commercial CNC (divorce would surely ensue...), I have to make one myself asap. With this in mind, here are a few questions:

1- In order to save design time, are there services/companies who either sell complete plans, or are able to design a CNC router to meet custom requirements? Eg if I were to detail my exact requirements for a CNC router, would there be someone on these forums whom I could pay to produce a blueprint, detailing all necessary parts, etc? If not, are there companies who do that, or with a large portfolio of pre-existing CNC router plans where I could find a close match to what I'm looking for?


2-I agree that 1250x1250 isn't enough for cabinetmaking. 1250x2500 would be ideal, as it would allow me to work with 1/2 panels. But that would probably make it much harder to keep precision under control, no?

3- Regarding the amount of time I can afford to spend assembling such a machine, I will have to reconsider that, and make a compromise, allowing for more time. I've seen logs of complete DIY projects (including design and actual physical work) mentioning a total of around 100 work hours. If I outsource the design, do you think that 100 work hours is reasonable for a complete neophyte?

4-How much would you expect an all metal, 1250x2000mm, 4axis CNC router to cost in materials alone? I know that this is a very generic question, but from the build logs, I see wildly varying budgets for similar machines. So would like your opinions on that.
(btw, buying a 2nd hand machine isn't an option, as I'm in Portugal, and the market isn't as dynamic as in the UK.)

Many thanks for reading this long post, and for any help you can provide.

cheers,
Ze