If money and supply were no option, as it shouldn't be on high end
stuff, would you still prefer a plywood veneer?

I'm sorry that this has devolved into a pi$$ing contest.

Much of the output of the alumni (and faculty, for that matter) of the
College of the Redwoods over the past decade or so has used veneer,
generally shop cut, over whatever substrates made the most sense for the
project. Often, that was a process very similar to that described by Mr.
Watson.

Note also the Scandinavian master designers of the mid-twentieth century.
And Jere Osgood, who has a piece or three in the world's better museums

'Quality' is well executed material and design, whatever material that may
turn out to be.

Patriarch,
who knows a few great wooddorkers, and admires them, more than he can
emulate their craft...