To answer your question, yes I have one and I like it! Yes there can be a problem IF you have to change head height, but so far by pre-planning, and using an assortment of setup "conventions" of my liking, I have been able to work around the problem. eg. I don't move the head up or down for the entire operation.
The biggest thing I did was to get a straight shaft ER collet extender and use ER collets for most of my tool holding. I know the purists will cringe, but this allows me to set different depths of the tool or if I have a really long tool (say a 1/2" drill or my tapping head), I use the normal R8 collet for tool holding. The other is that I generally do my work well above the table level either in a vice or on an aux table. This way, I can go off the end of the work to have enough clearance to change tools.
Can't tell you about the size of steppers, as I used servos with gecko drives.
Bottom line is, would I do it over again? And the answer is "maybe". I say maybe as the type of things I like to do are limited mostly by the Y axis travel (7") and there are many times that I wish I had quite a bit more in that area. It all depends on what type of work you are going to do and your need for axis travel and rigidity of machine.
Hope this helps.
Art
AKA Country Bubba (Older Than Dirt)