I’ve accumulated a large number of Elektrons and other synths and music computers and controllers. I repurposed my family’s old 1970 art deco looking formica kitchen table. There’s a short equipment rack with a mounted power distribution system placed behind that, and a big screen TV on top of the rack.
It’s nice to have an arrangement where you can scoot around on a chair with wheels, or stand and have anything you want on a stable surface easily within arm’s reach and essentially directly in front of you as it would be if you were using it standalone.
Things can sometimes become too spread out or far away. I played a lot of Tetris I’m when I was young and I feel that you sort of have to do that with the gear to get the positioning optimized! Get it all as close as possible with consideration to the necessary cable connections.
Adding a back row is not something I enjoyed doing since it means that some things were not comfortably within arm’s reach anymore. We can really only have one set of things in front us at a time anyway.
Prior to using the kitchen table I had a smaller desk and ran out of room after some excellent purchases. When I made the transition; I arranged all of the gear without plugging it in and shuffled it around as I decided the priority of how close it should be from me at the ideal listening position. That priority changes from time to time, and it just depends on whatever I’m trying to accomplish. I would go so far as to say that there was a bit of luck involved as far as how well everything has fit so far though.
It’s best to just use everything naturally and as much as possible simply allowing things to evolve rather that trying to engineer it too much ahead of time - since you may perhaps restrict yourself that way. I mean, it’s certainly an important thing to consider over time, as your needs may change.