I guess it's just according to how fancy you want to be. When I bought my first machine (a Featherweight) I had no place to put it except in my bedroom, and nothing to set it on. My husband picked up a small chrome dining table that had been used in their break room at work for $1. Nothing at all wrong with it except one leg was slightly different in color. We just put that leg back in the corner and it wasn't even noticable. I just used one of the chairs from our dinette set, moving it back and forth between the sewing table and dining table as needed. Just kept my sewing basket on the back corner of the table to store my supplies in. I used this table for 15 years or more before I could get a proper sewing table. Worked fine, cost only $1.