Stick objects together vs extruding
 

Hi people,

I'm still new to Maya but getting the hang of the basics and really enjoying it. I'm having to teach some beginner sessions and I've managed to sort out a workflow for a chess piece where everything is extruded in quads, and any separate elements are connected by merging verts and fixing the topology to suit. I want to show best practice this way by avoiding ngons and triangles, so edge loops flow correctly.

My question is this: should all topography of an object be joined together in this way, so it is one unified object, or is having objects just touching each other acceptable? Let's say I wanted a cube with a cylinder protruding from the side. Would you seek to attach these by carefully routing the geometry, or would you just stick a cylinder there and get on with your life... Ha ha.

Could really do with some opinions from professionals as I want to teach it in the most helpful way, but don't want to put off beginners and stifle creativity.

I've attached a scene showing the two different ways of doing the same thing. It is basically a cube with some smaller shapes extruded, and the other is the same cube but with shapes 'stuck' to it.

Thanks a million

Anyone care to chime in? :D