Initially there are three main decisions to be made when designing your piece of furniture, the purpose, the style and the materials/finish.
Do you want a piece that looks like it was built with your home? In which case as you probably live in a Victorian/Edwardian house it will be a panelled design either plain square edged, commonly known as Shaker,

or a more detailed style with mouldings in the panels and around the doors.

Should you desire furniture as pure as possible then minimal styling is for you though you still have to decide whether to make a statement with a wood veneer

or polished gloss lacquer or keep it subtle (and considerably cheaper) with a satin finish.
Do you want the luxurious look and feel of solid timber with a French polish finish or would you happily sacrifice a bit of feel for the practicality and value of lacquered veneer…..
You may wish to mix it all up, a square edged chunky worktop with panel moulded doors or chunky shelves with a Victorian cott beaded edge as we do after all live in post-modern times.

The satisfaction I get as a designer maker is in giving the client exactly what they wanted even when they weren’t entirely sure what that was. Starting with the initial site sketch, developed to scale on the computer and modified ad infinitum, each design is as individual as you are.