TomD
Well as Clinton would say "depends what you mean by "necesarry"".

If you plane pine with a good plane you can read a book in the reflection, and it looks like polished bone, and it is easier to clean. So if you want that business, you need to hand plane the finish. And the joinery has a right and wrong way. But if you ever look at what hits the windows of a lot of sushi places, yikes, see prettier packing crates.

The thing is that making nice stuff is about finding justifiable distinctions. These niceties may or may not be necessary, but they are observable. It is worth considering whether you're in the right game if you just want to dismiss them all out of hand. It's like being a lawyer, finding distinctions that create pain for your opponents is part of the job. If you just want to reduce everything to the lowest common denominator where nothing you say ads any value to your clients life, might be the wrong career. try taking an aw shucks guitar to a guitar show. The standard is incredibly high, as it could be in a juried show.