The concept outlined below is one I've had kicking around for some time but do not have the skill set to create. It would seem like a great companion to TC, TE, Extra Utilites or JABBA and would use items from some or all of those mods for recipes. It is merely a concept and if someone took the time to create it I would have no problem with my idea being modified since I'm aware that there's mechanics of the actual coding or interaction that may prevent doing things a certain way, or that my ideas may just be unrealistic or stupid.
Costs are approximate.
A simple early game crafting/storage mod of appropriate cost. Something with an interface that connects the inventories of chest slots like the TC crafting table, except it connects to multiple inventories using upgrade/expansion blocks.
The basic first tier mod interface/block(s) would initially be limited to a double vanilla chest. Cost would be wood, stone and iron.
A tier 2 network upgrade would allow connecting the cumulative inventories of 8 vanilla chests and a vanilla furnace upgrade option. Furnace would take up one vanilla chest slot in the network. Furnace slot would have a hopper upgrade with the same number of slots as a vanilla hopper to feed it and output configured to inventory slots as outlined below. Cost would be wood, stone, iron, copper, and redstone. It would require a small amount of RF such as that supplied by a survivalist generator, which would be part of the tier 2 network upgrade recipe, with a fuel slot in the interface also up-gradable with a hopper upgrade.
The interface would have tabs for each chest or inventory connected to it that could be labeled, and the selected tab would be the one showing in the interface next to the crafting grid. The tabs would be layered horizontally in typical fashion by number with the current selected tab showing its name in order to fit the 8 tabs.
Configuration of network would use a "connecting" block/duct/pipe system that allows expansion with appropriate cost. Recipe would use duct/pipe from TE or Extra Utilies and servos etc.
It would have tier 3 expansion/upgrade blocks that allow an increase in the number of chests. Each upgrade would be limited to the same number of cumulative slots as the basic mod. The initial expansion interface would be configured with main tabs correlating to the number of upgrades, then sub-tabs based on the basic 8 vanilla chest configuration of the basic mod. Each additional expansion would become a main tab with the 8 cumulative vanilla chest slots having a sub heading tab. Cost would be iron, copper, gold, redstone and diamond.
It would have an upgrade that connects to barrels with each barrel having a tab and each upgrade limited to 8 barrels. Each upgrade would become a main tab, with sub tabs for each barrel.
It would have a sorting upgrade based on item number. Sorting would default to a chest slot already occupied by the item, then overflow to an empty slot in the same inventory, then to any available slot in any inventory. Barrel upgrades could be configured to accept overflow of more than one stack from the chest sorting.
Recipes would include items from other mods such as servos, gears, ducts, etc.