When you’re searching for the best cabinet table saw, you’ll quickly figure out that they’re expensive, big, and built to last for a very long time. Every workshop needs a table saw and if you’re serious about your woodworking, you’ll want to make the investment into a higher end cabinet saw. Unlike the portable, hybrid, or contractor table saws, the cabinet saw is built to stay in one place so you need a garage or dedicated space for it. And since it is such a large investment, you want to make sure you’re getting the right one. Below we cover the best ones, what we like, dislike, and more. We also have a handy buyer guide at the end that covers the most important things to look for before making your purchase.
Let’s get right to it...
In a Rush? Here's Our Top Picks:
Below are our top cabinet saws which are all powerful, accurate, and more than reliable. If you want something that’s built to last, look no further than this list.
One of our favorite cabinet table saws for a variety of reasons. First, there’s the safety features and dust collection. The SawStop features a proprietary flesh sensing technology that stops the blade within 5 milliseconds of contacting the skin. This turns what would otherwise be a life changing injury into a papercut. As far as dust collection goes, it has a powerful dust collection system that captures 99% of the dust generated by the saw. This is better than almost any other table saw out there.
When it comes to performance, you can get this one with either a 3 hp or 5 hp motor. Both have a heavy duty arbor shave and poly-V drive belts that produce high torque while reducing the vibration. It also has cast iron table wings and weighs almost 700 lbs so vibration is really minimal with this one.
When it comes to the general convenience, it has oversized chrome coated adjustment wheels for easy and accurate changes, an oversized shut off switch, and a riving knife to prevent any binding or kickback. Overall, it’s an excellent cabinet saw and a beast that’s built to last for a very long time.
The downside is that the safety mechanism can trigger if you’re cutting damp wood or reclaimed wood that has nails in it. This can be very frustrating if these are the woods you work with because once the mechanism fires, you have to replace the cartridge and blade.
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Grizzly always makes the list in almost every category of table saw and for good reason. The Grizzly Industrial cabinet saw has a powerful 3 hp motor with a poly-v serpentine belt drive that produces higher torque and a quieter/smoother cutting experience. Additionally, there's cast iron throughout the saw including the trunnion, table wings, hand wheels, and miter gauge. This makes the saw more stable and simply built like a tank.
Other features that contribute to Grizzly being a top choice include the convenient tool-less changes like the quick release blade guard and riving knife. The extremely solid Shop Fox fence, covered motor to prevent dust from entering, and of course, an oversized shut off at knee level just to name a few great things. And if you’re wondering about the rip capacity, it has a 32” rip capacity which is a good size for most furniture and cabinet builders.
Aesthetically, it’s not half bad either. It comes with a durable powder coated paint job that can withstand years of use without chipping or scratching. The one caveat here is that if power shuts off to the machine (like it’s tripped and cuts out), you have to be extremely careful. Once the power comes back on, the saw will also turn on which can be very dangerous so make sure to shut it off if this happens. This is not unique to Grizzy though so just keep this in mind with all table saws and power tools for that matter.
Other than that, pretty much everyone who buys a Grizzly saw reports that after years of daily use, it works as well as it did on day one. So while you will need to make some adjustments out of the box, once it’s up and running it will almost certainly last for several decades without quitting on you.
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The Powermatic is a heavy duty, big cabinet table saw. It has a 50” rip capacity that lets you slice down the middle of boards up to 100” wide and a 5 hp motor that makes cutting effortless even for harder woods. It weighs almost 700 lbs (similar to the SawStop) and owes that to a heavy cast iron base and table wings. This heavy weight keeps the vibration low and the experience very stable when cutting. The cast iron wings are also precision ground to make your cutting surface perfectly level.
It comes with a heavy duty, quick release riving knife so you can change it to a blade guard in a snap. It also has built in retractable casters which make it easier (but not easy) to move around the shop. You can then retract the wheels and your cabinet saw will remain firmly in place. The poly-v belt drive maintains even power transfer to the blade and keeps dust out of the motor. The inside of the cabinet is also sloped so when you do have to clean it out, it’s a quick job for the shop vac.
Like most other cabinet saws, it features oversized adjustment handles and knee level emergency shut off to prevent accidents. And one final convenience feature is that the table extension can double as a work bench for other projects. It already has pre-drilled holes and a clamp built in. Overall, it’s a very accurate and high powered saw that advanced woodworkers are universally happy with.
It does take some time to assemble and calibration out of the box but if that isn’t an issue, it’s a great option.
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The Jet is a nice looking, classic style table saw that has all of the bells and whistles you would expect from a cabinet saw of this caliber. It comes standard with a 3 hp motor and poly-v belt drive that gives you the power you need for dense woods and a smooth, low vibration cutting experience. On the front and sides, you have the oversized adjustment handles that allow you to make quick and precise adjustments to depth and bevel as well as an oversized magnetic power switch. The switch prevents your saw from unexpectedly turning back on after a power outage.
Other features of the Jet include quick release riving knife, easy push-button blade changing, anti-kickback pawls, a clear blade guard so you can see what you’re cutting. Like the other cabinet table saws, the blade is left tilting for bevel cuts. This prevents your wood from getting trapped between the fence and blade to prevent burn on the wood.
The saw also weighs just over 500 lbs due to the solid base and cast iron table wings so you’ll hardly notice vibration when starting or cutting on the saw. The only drawback with the Jet is that it does require quite a bit of assembly when you receive it. You’ll have to set aside a chunk of your Saturday to work on putting it together. That being said, the Jet is a very solid workhorse of a cabinet saw that’s built to last for many years.
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Delta is a brand that’s known for high power cabinet saws and they deliver every time. Starting with the overall convenience of use, the Delta put the oversized adjustment handles both on the front which is very convenient. Most cabinet saws have one on the front and the other on the side (often below the table extension which requires you to bend down and reach under the table to adjust it). Having both wheels on the front makes it much easier to adjust your height and bevel. It also has a push button arbor lock that locks the blade in place so you only need one wrench to replace blades in a snap.
You can order the Delta with either a 36” or 52” rip capacity depending on your needs and space which means almost any workshop can get one. And as far as the overall use goes, it’s 650 lbs due to the cast iron parts throughout which makes it stable and reduces vibration both during start up and cutting.
The dust collection could be better but it’s not terrible. It has a 4” dust port which captures most of the dust but the cracks in the cabinet allow some to get out and spread through the shop. It does come with a 5-year warranty as well which is a nice perk and shows that they stand behind their product. Overall, it’s a great cabinet saw.
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A new cabinet table saw can be a big investment. So when you’re choosing a cabinet table saw, there are several factors that are really important and we’ll cover those below.
One of the main reasons to get a cabinet saw vs a hybrid is that a cabinet saw is the most accurate and precise when it comes to cutting. This is critical if you’re building furniture or cabinets because, frankly, you can’t build quality cabinets or furniture with improperly cut wood. All of the cabinet saws above are very good quality saws. They cut accurately and have more than enough power to chew through hardwoods with ease. Every cabinet saw and any table saw for that matter will require calibration out of the box but that’s to be expected.
Power is definitely something to pay attention to because a weaker saw runs the risk of binding and kicking the material back at you. Cabinet table saws tend to be mid-range in the rpm world but higher torque so they have no problem cutting through even hardwoods. Opt for something with at least 3,500 rpm or higher in your cabinet saw.
Cabinet saws are stable by nature because they’re heavy. This helps to reduce the vibration while cutting and, as a result, contributes to more accurate cuts. Cabinet saws have large cast iron table wings that add a significant amount of weight and some have other cast iron parts throughout them to add that much more stability. Typically, cabinet saws weigh over 300 lbs with some weighing well over 500 lbs. So once they’re in place, they’re difficult to move and produce very little vibration while cutting.
Safety features are important. Almost every cabinet table saw comes with the basic safety features. These include thermal overload protection, riving knife, anti-kickback pawls, a blade guard, and an oversized shut off switch that’s at knee level. The one saw that goes way above in the safety category is the SawStop. It is the only cabinet table saw with a skin sensor technology. An electric current runs through the blade and if at any point it comes into contact with your skin, it interrupts the current which triggers a blade shut off in less than 5 milliseconds. This stops the blade faster than the airbags in a care fire and reduces a potentially terrible injury into a paper cut.
This safety feature does come with a down side though. If you cut damp or reclaimed wood with nails, it can trigger the safety mechanism to fire.
Dust is inevitable with a cabinet table saw. However, most of them have a 4” dust port for collection and they’re good at reducing the amount of dust that ends up in your shop. Still though, you’re going to have some dust which is just a natural consequence of woodworking. The one saw that minimizes dust the most is the SawStop. They have a dust collection system that captures 99% of the dust produced which is better than any other saws.
Most out of the box saws have a standard blade which likely won’t be the blade that you do your work with. So you’ll likely change the blade and probably change blades often depending on what you’re working on. So you want something that can accommodate whatever blades you need to use and lets you change out blades pretty quickly.
There’s not a whole lot to say about price because you clearly know what your budget is. However, choosing a purchase as big as a cabinet table saw based on price is the wrong way to go. Consider the value offered by the table saw and opt for one that has the best balance of price and features like power, accuracy, safety measures, etc. If you can’t buy the one you want right now, it’s better to save a little more money and get the one you want because this is a purchase that will remain in your shop for many years to come.
Cabinet table saws are large and take up a pretty decent amount of space so you want to take measurements and make sure that you have enough space for the saw and space around the saw so you can cut wood on it. Additionally, consider the size of the materials you’re working with. If you’re cutting something like a 4’ x 8’ sheet, then you need at least a 25” rip capacity. If you’re cutting larger, then you’ll need a higher rip capacity.
There’s a reason we don’t have dozens of cabinet saws on this list and that’s because we narrowed it down to the very best ones. So all of the above cabinet saws are excellent and top of the class. However, a few stick out slightly above the others and those are our very very favorites. Here they are:
Ordinarily, we would pick a “best premium” option as well. However, the SawStop would also be the best premium so we kept it to these two. Those are our two top favorites for the best cabinet saw and we’re confident that you will love these saws and you will get many years of use from them.