i am a woodworker. Have gutted houses, installed full kitchens from wallboard to finish work, whole house of wood flooring, built and restored Furniture.
The forum i like best is SawMillcreek.
I have quite a collection of tools at this point. If i was starting from scratch I would buy a Track Saw first. Either the Dewalt, Makitia or Grizzly depending on budget. (Festool if i was ATOT rich)
Learn to use this to your advantage and you may never need a table saw. A track saw is much more competent and versatile than any of the "jobsite" or "portable" table saws available.
Then I would have a good router, even better if you get a plate for the track of your track saw, this will allow you to do nearly everything a cheap table saw will do with more precision and versatility.
A drill and driver combo or a full battery powered combo set. drill / driver / reciprocating saw are all the battery things you really need. I have a radio that came "free" as well.
last, a chop saw. Something decent to nice that will hold its settings. The cheap stuff will do the job, but will not hold its settings from cut to cut.
I have a lot of rigid tools and have not been disappointed with any of them, but there are better and worse. The bosch glide miter saw is excellent, next is the dewalt /rigid / makitia offerings. next down is the ryobi/kobalt etc.
I have bought most of my stand alone stuff like table saw, miter saw, router table and 1/2 in router on craigslist. if you want specific help for a tool give me a shout. I started woodworking with my father as a wee one and have been doing it in various capacities since.
Currently I am finishing the remodel of our home. The last 2 projects are: trimming out our stairway with antique wrought iron panels that have been sand blasted and powder coated, Hickory and blue stain pine wood railings and trim. Building 2 sliding closet doors from Hickory veneer plywood and solid hickory.
If you do have money, Festool stuff is great, but you only gain a few percent over other nice tools for an exponential increase in cost.
Cabinets are not as hard as people make them out to be, the key is planing every cut from start to finish on paper. I built a set in our previous house with only a table saw, drill and chop saw from white melamine for the boxes and maple ply with iron on edge banding for the doors. They came out great. Shelving is very similar in construction.
After you get tired of using plywood with its perfectly square and straight edges, you will want a planer and a Jointer. These things will help you cut a wavy board only good for boat building and turn it into something flat and straight that is useful. This is also why a tracksaw is better than a table saw for many operations, its cuts a straight line even if the wood is not. a regular tablesaw does not have this capability without some fanageling or a very expensive and large European sliding table type.
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