box making

Today i decided on the box for little land. I wanted a box where the lid/top is the little land base with the grooves. I met a carpenter and gave him the dimensions and the specifications. He first said he'll make the box in wood and then attach the grooved surface on the top because MDF may not have a good finish like wood. This would cost me about 2.5-3k!!I almost fell off my chair. Told him that i needed everything in MDF and at minimal cost. I asked him to make 2 different kinds of boxes and 1 of those in MDF and 1 in wood. Lets see how that turns out. Dont even want to think about the cost..ugh..the things one needs to do to make the perfect toy..
Here are the types of boxes:

I wanted the lid to be such that one side has the grooves and the other is plain so that it can be slid open and turned to the plain side when little land is not in use. The box will be used to keep the pieces(little land shapes). The dimensions i specified were:

height= 8 inch

width=11 inch

thickness=1.5 inches(excluding the 1 inch grooved surface)

grooves on the lid:

space between the grooves=2.5 cms

thichness of groove=4mm

This the second type of box, where again the grooved surface itself forms the lid. can be opened and closed but cannot be detached and changed like the above example.

I asked him to work with the same dimensions.

He said these 2 pieces would be ready in 2 days after which i can make changes or finalize before making several units. I hope everything turns out the way i imagine it or better.