W Canaday wrote:
I'm looking to buy an under-the-table router to do a variety of cabinetry,
including raised panel passage & entry door making.

While price is -always- a concern, I'm more concerned with getting a
router that will take anything that I, a hobbyist, am likely to ever put
in its path and still outlive me by a wide margin. I am willing to go as
high as $500.

If I don't make a fatal mistake along the way, I figure I have perhaps
another 20-25 years yet to live. So I am looking for something that was
deliberately over-engineered. Heavy casting. Premium bearings. Heavy duty
electronics. Little or no plastic & chrome.

What, in your opinion, is the current "Cadillac of Routers" for this
application and why do you feel this way?

Sounds like you're looking for a Porter Cable 7518. It's bearings and
motor are designed to run all day long every day in production shops.
No bells and whistles except electronic speed control. It's 15 amps,
which is as powerful as you're gonna get in 110 volt routers. It's
fixed-base; works very well in a table, but just too heavy for handheld
use unless you're built like Popeye. You can most always find them for
$350 and sometimes as low as $250. You'll have enough left from your
$500 to buy a smaller router for handheld use if you want.

I had a plunge router mounted in my table before I got the big PC.
Every time I needed to change bits I had to turn the adjustment knob
"round and "round till I found myself avoiding changing bits. I was
drooling over the router lifts I saw advertised. The PC 7518 adjusts
bit height by simply twisting the motor in the housing. It's quick,
smooth and accurate. I don't feel like I need a router lift anymore.

DonkeyHody
"Don't ever wrestle with a pig. You'll both get dirty, but the pig
likes it."