I have been using this cutting table for 15 years and it cost me very little to assemble: I have an old pine dresser that has three drawers and the top is 32 inches off the ground. I then added to pieces of 2 x 4 to each side and topped it off with a piece of plywood that is 30 x 60. i then tiled that top with sticky back floor tile to give me a nice, easy to dust and clean up surface. You can get these tiles at the $ store, or $ General for very little, cometimes 2/$1. The finished height is 37" (I am 5'6" tall). I use top two drawers of the dresser for fat quarters, and the bottom one for UFO's. The top piece of plywood does not need to be that big; you can scale it down depending on the size of your room. I like it big; I have a lamp, utensil holder and other stuff on the surface, along with my very big cutting mat 24" x 36". Hope this helps you!