Regardless what we do, there never seems to be enough shop space. I've worked out of a 8' x 12' shed and a 30' x 50' building and several sizes in between.

I don't see the issue here as necessarily as one of space as much as one of efficiency. We regularly do raised panel doors and this is my main requirement for a large planer. I had gone all the way up to a 20" model, had sold that 20" model replacing it with a 15" model and was getting ready to purchase another 20" model. For convience, I had purchased a 12" Makita portable for small stuff - short runs. I got to thinking, "how many panels in an average kitchen are normally more than 12". The answer was 4 panels. So in essence, I was keeping a large planer to do 4 panels per kitchen. I also have a Performax 22-44 sander. So I decided to try it using just the 12" planer and the sander. We developed a technique for dealing with panels that were wider than the planer that worked well. That was over 10 years ago and I haven't regretted the decision. The Makita is now mounted on a stand with a small delta DC that is attached to a 30 gallon trash can. One other important fact, since I buy my lumber in bulk, cost is very minimual to order it S2s and straight line ripped.

More recently, I have use a guided system to replace a panel saw and a jobsite table saw. With some of the things being developed now, I see the guided system replacing even more tools.

Right now, I'm kind of like Per said - living in both worlds. The world of portable tools is growing and the larger tools seem to be going by the way side. In this process, I will not sacrifice quality of the finished product. Health issues forced me into taking a look at an easier way of doing things. Thus far, I consider that search for an earier way to be very successful.

Burt