I don't know if this would fit your audience, but your description of wannabe
maker gives me the idea it would....
I picked up a bunch of wine crates a while back (the price was right: 'just take
them. I need them gone') for storage. I use the less-good ones for shelf
material, and the better ones for casement. I disassemble, put dado's in for
shelves (6mm is typical, but is varies with the material at hand) spaced for
whatever I need, and reassemble with the original nails and some good glue, and
additional nails/pins as needed.
I do the dado's with a #45, stair saw, and small router plane, using a
straightedge as a guide.
I primarily use these for tool storage (regular use measuring tools in flat
cases, small planes, etc) so that I can see them without having to open drawers.
Some shelves have dividing strips, cut from the same wood, glued and tacked to
keep things organized.
My hipster neighbor and a couple nouveau-yuppie acquaintances love them, and
they fit with the recycle/upcycle maker set.

Tools: dado plane and/or stair saw, bench and/or block plane, tacking hammer,
small router plane, knife, (crosscut filed) back saw, miter box or square,
straightedge. A rebate plane could be handy for fitting shelf ends, but I fit by
light taper with the block plane. Much faster.

Typical time to do a case with 5 shelves, from original crates to drying glue is
about 30 minutes, now that I have done 5 or 6 sets. Usually no surfacing is
needed.
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