Getting everything flush and clean

Welcome to the addiction!!!!

Trying to build a piece of furniture with a circ is a recipe for failure. 
So, before you dive into the black hole of woodworking tools, I strongly suggest you find and take some woodworking classes.  If you're here in the U.S. most school systems have open classes in high schools and county junior colleges as well as trade schools where you can get a good introduction to tools and methods to enable you to then make decisions on what and how you want to do more without investing in piles of iron that you may not need.

Mark Mandell wrote:

Welcome to the addiction!!!!

Trying to build a piece of furniture with a circ is a recipe for failure. 
So, before you dive into the black hole of woodworking tools, I strongly suggest you find and take some woodworking classes.  If you're here in the U.S. most school systems have open classes in high schools and county junior colleges as well as trade schools where you can get a good introduction to tools and methods to enable you to then make decisions on what and how you want to do more without investing in piles of iron that you may not need.

Thanks for the reply, Mark. You’re absolutely right that all the tools in the world aren’t necessarily going to make the products look professional at my level. First and foremost, I just need to put in the hours.

At the very least, I was thinking a table saw, hand saw (with a mitre saw box), and hand planer would be a good foundation. That way it’s easier to get straight cuts.

A table saw is a centerpiece in most woodshops.  However, table saws are involved in more serious injuries than any other power tool.  A table saw's strength is its ability to accurately repeat  the same cut, but if it's not tuned properly, it repeats the same errors, ruins material, and can easily leave the operator unable to count to ten on two hands.  
Some hands-on learning ( NOT via YouTube) with an experienced teacher will shorten the time that you need to safely produce quality work.

John in NM wrote:

A tablesaw or a well tuned bandsaw are very versatile tools, that is why they are often early acquisitions.

I would probably lean towards the tablesaw because you can make cross cuts with it.  As Mark points out however, they are dangerous.  The danger area is the back of the blade more than the front.  Any piece (the work or the drop piece) that gets a little sideways at the back comes flying back towards you, especially fast if it gets bound up between the fence and the blade first.  I like to use two push sticks, one for pushing in my right hand and a long one with a birdsmouth cut in the end in my left hand.  That one is used behind the blade to jam in the kerf if needed for holding the kerf open or for just pushing the work against the fence (on a rip cut).  For crosscutting, a good miter jig and no fence.  Sometimes you use a wide block clamped to the fence well back from the blade as a stop for repeat cuts, such as setting the distance for a tenon shoulder cut.  No friction against the fence while cutting that way.

Then a #5 plane and a good workbench can do the rest - even a table saw is only a rough straightline in my view.  Edge jointing a couple boards for glue up is plenty quick and easy with a plane and a good bench.  But then you need to learn to sharpen the plane.  The only thing to remember about sharpening methods is that they all pretty much work.  Some are better optimized to different goals (speed, super sharpness, consistent bevel angles, etc), but they all pretty much work.  A well sharpened blade is about 95% of plane function.

Thank you, John. That’s very helpful 👍🏻