I had a very rough idea in my head of making crafting tables tiered or something like that. Early game the player uses a stump to craft simple items by bashing stuff with a rock (no GUI) then the player can get a better worktable which gets a GUI but still needs gt6 tools to craft certain items (hammer or screwdriver or wire cutters ect.) And then finally a proper crafting workbench that does not require any tools inside recipes as it would already have the tools in it, in its recipe.
This crafting table tier system can go on and on eventually reaching automated crafting and digital systems sort of like AE.