no help on the brands to buy....but I pretty much have my ironing board set up in my kitchen as that is the only place I can leave it set up and I stitch in the dining room....however, I found I was using my ironing board as another kitchen counter top.....oops....spills and stuff on it....so I have bought a couple of piece of what used to be called oil clothe and cover my ironing board with that when not using it as an ironing board....got to be careful though....my sister was helping me with some pressing and didn't take the oil cloth off....oops! melted gunk on the bottom of the iron...lucky for me once cooled it rubbed off.