multi-species drawer boxes...recommendations?

[Scorpion]

I've built 5 cabinets for the master bath and the remodel is coming along.  Face frames are red oak stained a walnut brown.  It's time for doors and drawers.  Doors will be mission style.  The original plan for the drawer boxes was to use a pre-clear coated ply with pre-finished edge banding using Domino joinery. So far I've built them per my drawing and haven't deviated from the original plan at all however the cabinets turned out much nicer than I had anticipated which is a really good problem to have with the wife.  Here's the empty vanity bases.

That being said, I'm now second guessing using the pre-coated Baltic Birch with edge banding for the drawer boxes and am thinking I should go for it, spend the time, and build something a little fancier.

Some drawers I've seen pictures of appear to be multi-species.  Not sure if there's a reason other than style but they do look cool with dovetail joints.  I realize that the drawers will get substantially more expensive.  So here are my questions:
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[*]Is their any benefit to multi-species boxes other than look?
[*]Are there any reasons why certain species shouldn't be mixed with others?  Like mix only hardwoods with hard, soft with soft, etc.
[*]Are ther reasons why it's a bad idea to build drawer boxes using more than one species?
[*]Anyone think I'm wasting my time messing with it and the best bet is the original plan of using the edge banded baltic ply?
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Kinda googled around but haven't found much other than a lot of samples.  My reservation is that most of the pictures are used to show examples of the dovetail joint for which the darker/lighter contrast is very useful.  I remember my parents having some old furniture that I think had drawers like I'm talking about but I was young.

 

[tjbnwi]

Maple or steamed beach. No advantage to multi material except for looks. Dominos will be just fine, you can do exposed dominos if you want the look.

What slides are you using?

You have the height, do this with the top drawers. Very few items in a bathroom need deep drawers. Use as much volume as you can

Tom

 

[Scorpion]

What slides are you using?

You have the height, do this with the top drawers. Very few items in a bathroom need deep drawers. Use as much volume as you can

Tom

I like the exposed Domino look.  Thanks for the suggestion, kinda missed that option.

You know I'd just been looking at some ideas that are very similar.  Seems some are calling the tiered drawers but they're basically drawers within drawers and a very similar concept.

I was thinking Blum Tandem on the main drawer but not sure on the secondary.  The secondary have to be side mount.

 

[tjbnwi]

The Blum undermounts work well.

I prefer doing 2 different drawers, I don't like the hardware inside the drawer.

Tom

 

[Scorpion]

The Blum undermounts work well.

I prefer doing 2 different drawers, I don't like the hardware inside the drawer.

Tom

With the two separate drawers would you run the Blum slides in both or something slimmer on top? 

 

[tjbnwi]

I now use the Blum soft close undercounts on the lower drawer, the KV self close on the upper drawer.

Tom

 

[JimD]

I like 1/2 Baltic birch for drawer boxes and dovetails for the joints.  I don't cover up the edges, I think it looks fine. 

You can mix species but if you do, you either have to put a heavy finish on it that drastically slows moisture changes or you have to use species that move at about the same rate.  In an extreme case I joined Baltic birch plywood sides to solid cherry fronts in a kitchen island.  that is a big no-no.  The plywood moves essentially not at all, the cherry moves.  But I put 3 or 4 coats of Resisthane, a water based poly on the drawers and they held up fine.  So with a good amount of finish, I proved to myself that it can be done.  But it's still best not to do this kind of thing.  Plywood boxes can have overlay fronts and you don't risk the joints separating from moisture changes. 

 

[Cheese]

Take your pick. They both look good, it's just a matter of whatever moves you. Dovetail joint is purpleheart with maple, and the Domino joint is maple with maple and a Sipo Domino.

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Forgot to add:
It is interesting to note, that when the average person sees the dovetail joint, it's a "wow, that looks really nice" reaction. While with the Domino, the reaction is more like a "that's different, what is it?" The contrasting wood colors also probably add to the wow factor for the dovetail joint.