They keep the carcass square in the front portion of the cabinet, especially during shipping.

Neither a good thing or a bad thing - it's just a way of building. The vast majority of high end European cabinet companies do not use them and they arrive in the USA intact.

In a zero sum game - removing them weakens the original design, BUT as a practical matter you are very unlikely to notice once they are fastened to adjacent cabinets and the drawers are inserted.

Intermediate stretchers are flat pieces, 3/4" x 3-4" wide place between 2nd, 3rd, and 4th or 5th drawers.
I typically specify not to include them to gain back the height.
Some makers won't cooperate.

The reasons makers like them are :
Easier for them to locate drawers and without them the screws holding in the glides really need to be done well using "euro" screws.
With a typical 1/8" reveal the space does not show so not an issue.
On drawer bases wider than 36" they are a good idea. If the cabinet box is dowelled together, as opposed to screwed there is really not a structural issue. Can't answer for screwed boxes as I won't use them. But might be fine.

so, like this:

[img]