I love my counter height cutting table. It's actually a center island with fold up flaps for a bit of extra room when I need it. I don't think I could use a rotary cutter sitting down. My compromise is a standing height table with a swivel stool. I just move the stool out of the way when I cut. The rest of the time, I sit. My best investment has been my folding table pad/ironing board/quilt basting board. It's gridded and marked off in inches. That tool is invaluable.

I use my dining room table, often at full extension, with table pads and/or cardboard sheets to protect the surface when I am cutting or working on big things. Little cuts and trims are a green cutting board next to my sewing machine,

I use an old formica kitchen table with 1 leaf. It's on bed risers and my large 58 x 40 cutting mat fits perfectly. I'm 5' 6" and it fits me just fine. We downsized 3 years ago and I wasn't parting with that old table, no matter what. I have tote storage below.

That is cheaper than buying those bed risers and you can get caps to fit the bottoms.

I moved up from a 4 x 6 to a 4 x 8 with a self healing reversible mat. I used a 3/4" thick piece of plywood, finished it off by sanding it, adding a trim piece that sat just barely above the edge so when I added the cutting mat it laid just inside it and wouldn't be able to move around. Added a shelf below to house all my shoebox size plastic totes filled with scraps, orphan blocks and fat quarters by color and/or size. Also have a place for my trash can and too large rulers and rotating mat. Added a couple screws to the end bookcases that the cutting table is sitting on top to hold my longer rulers but easy to grab to as I use them so much. The size mat gives me plenty of room to lay a finished quilt top onto it to trim the edges. Other times I keep a small sewing machine at one end for adding the binding using the table to hold the quilt up so no weigh pulling at the machine. I normally have each of my projects all at one end in plastic cases to keep them separate. Also have my bolt of batting above the table so when I need to cut a piece I can just pull it down, lay it over the table and cut.

Getting ready to make up an attachment to enlarge my ironing board so it will fit onto the cutting board edge for those times when I'm pressing long pieces of fabrics. This way the fabric isn't pooling down on the floor getting wrinkled again.

I have our old oak table from the breakfast room of the other house. It was too big for the breakfast room in this house, so I put it upstairs on bed risers and use it for cutting. It has 2 leaves in it so it's really long and works great. I have a large mat on it and use the underneath for totes, just like you do.

I just took over the dining room for sewing and use the dining table to cut and sew on. Machines on one end, cutting boards on the other. For quilting, I don't have to stand and cut too long at a time.

In past homes I've lived in, I have used old kitchen tables and put empty paint cans under the legs. TACKY, but it did the job of raising the table to a comfortable height. I used to have my own bikini business and spent hours standing at the table and cutting when I had wholesale orders to fill.

http://www.quiltingboard.com/images/misc/quote_icon.png Originally Posted by tranum http://www.quiltingboard.com/images/...post-right.png
I use an old formica kitchen table with 1 leaf. It's on bed risers and my large 58 x 40 cutting mat fits perfectly. I'm 5' 6" and it fits me just fine. We downsized 3 years ago and I wasn't parting with that old table, no matter what. I have tote storage below.

I have a similar set up in my basement, only with a 3' x 6' conference table that I bought at the thrift store for $20.00. Instead of risers, I bought some big cinder blocks and set it up on those. It's about 41" from the floor to the top of the table, and it's just perfect for me.

I don't have to lean over at all to cut - I can stand very comfortably and do whatever I have to do, but I do have a couple of stools down there too, though I hardly ever use them.

I'm thinking about getting a 4 x 8 piece of plywood and covering it with batting and fabric to make a REALLY BIG ironing surface to put on there when I have to iron wide backings. I made a "big board" for my ironing board, but it would be nice to have one that's bigger.

Two ideas. When I was fulltiming in a motorhome, I used a screen tent with a rainfly over the picnic table as my sewing room. We usually parked in one spot for 2-3 months at a time. My combination cutting/ironing board was a bi-fold closet door set up on adjustable height sawhorses. That even provided some storage underneath on a shelf. Now that I'm in a house, my cutting table is two kitchen upper cabinets (resale store) put back to back with the doors taken off, tied together top and bottom with pieces of plywood and mounted on castors. My ironing table is a 2' X 52" piece of padded plywood mounted to the top of another resale kitchen upper cabinet and also on castors. Works well and I find I don't need to use the locking mechanisms on a carpeted floor.

I use an Ikea table that can be found in their office section. The different size/colour tops can be used with different styles of legs, all bought separately. Some legs are adjustable in height by just twisting them which is easily done in situ.

The added bonus for me is that the larger size perfectly straddles a UK double bed. As I use a spare bedroom for sewing, this means that the cutting table is using the same footprint as the end of the bed.

I have the same table in a smaller size for the sewing machine. I chose shiny white table tops which means that quilts slide easlily on them.