i think it should be possible to use the items in your chest while you are crafting an item at the crafting table. i think this a good idea because it is hard to go back and fourth from the chest to the table if you have a lot of things you are crafting. it would also be good because then in multiplayer mode you can drop everying ito a chest then one perso n can craft a bunch of stuff while people are putting stuff in. of course it would have to be disabled if a person was not permited to open chests. it would also have to only work for a certain area around the crafting table.
Support, that would be pretty awesome. It'd be nice to keep some commonly used crafting items in the table itself, or I suppose in a drawer in the table or whatever. Then with the added functionality of the hopper and some redstone know-how you could set up a system to refill it from your overflow chests. Your crafting table would always be stocked with the items you need.
It gives 18 internal storage slots, and keeps items in the crafting grid when you exit the GUI.
[MCAPI-423] "Modcast"
XXX
XCX
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X=wooden planks
C=crafting table