Reply by Lee Barker

Another option to consider: 1/4” tempered hardboard (“masonite”). It won’t break.

Actually I think 1/4 fir plywood would be fine as well, glued in. I would avoid mdf-core 5.2mm material.

1/2” material seems overkill to me.

Once you get all the gold ingots in there, the drawers will be fine so long as you don’t use them as a pullout stepstool.

Kindly,

Lee

-- "...in his brain, which is as dry as the remainder biscuit after a voyage, he hath strange places cramm'd with observation, the which he vents in mangled forms." --Shakespeare, "As You Like It"