Both excellent points to remember. I just got a new Rowenta for Christmas & had been hesitating to use it based on all the negative comments on the board. I had never owned a new iron before in my life, so was rather excited to see how well it worked. I really wanted the steam in the vertical position for taking wrinkles out of a few items that are difficult due to gathers & such.

Our "new" old house had one of these wall cabinet ironing boards as well, & the timer as you have. I like it for this same reason, light goes out & you know the iron shut off. For those who might like this feature without a cabinet, just buy a timer that plugs into the wall & plug your iron into the timer; you can control how long to turn the dial.
I think this is how I will set up my ironing area in the sewing room. My neat ironing board is in the finished basement of our home & my knees can't always do the stairs so well; so not used as often as I'd like.