Cybrarian, I, too, am married to a great carpenter! It wasn't for Christmas, but about a month ago he made me a new cutting table, which matches the beautiful cabinet for my sewing machine, which, like yours, has an fold-away extension on the backside. My cutting table has 5 shallow drawers on each side for sorting scraps (2, 2.5, 3, 3.5, etc) squares and strips! I also have room in the drawers for current projects (these are in addition to the ones on which I'm not working
I have these in tubs on shelves. Between the sets of drawers is a large open area for batting rolls. It has large swivel casters, too, so it's easy to roll around away from the wall when I'm basting, etc It's awesome. I'm very spoiled and blessed to have such a handy hubby, as it sounds like you are!