Hi PurpleHaze,
I'll give you the pro's & cons, should help in your quest!
NFT, I find NFT suits my setup better as the nute tank is part of the setup, it only takes 8" of vertical space and it can be sort of self contained, the aquarium heater, airstone and nute pump all sit in the tank under the tray. my pump is on 24/7 I only adjust the flow through the grow. I have a comercial NFT unit from Nutriculture and would recomend useing them. I actually went to their premises near Preston, they have a greenhouse with all the various hydro setups working, learnt alot on the visit, they're very helpfull. They also hold the World/Uk record for the largest Tomato plant...30+foot!
E&F, the principle sounds better but the logistics (IMHO) make it harder, you have to make it yourself!
Imagine a tabletop with a 5" (waterproof) rail round the edge. the principle is to flood the table to the top of your Rockwool cubes, which drives out stale air and replaces nutes, then as it drains, through a hole in the rail, it draws fresh air into the cube for the roots. the problem is that you have to get the timming of the flood right and the size of the drain hole right, then you have to pipe the whole thing together with a nute tank (don't forget an overflow) and it all seems to get messy compared to a £60 ready made plastic kit (easy to steralise for your next grow)
The NFT kit comes with instructions for getting your nutes right, I never had to buy an EC meter (£130) or a Ph meter, i just use the Ph colour kit that came with it, simple.
Whether you make it yourself or buy one, I would still visit a hydro shop to get a better idea idea of what your aiming for. I guess you could make one out of MDF or plywood but you would have to waterproof it with Marine Varnish (5 or 6 coats but atleast 3) and you might chip the varnish off with use making it a nightmare to steralise it, suppose you could cover the thing in epoxy resin wich would be better.
I have used Holland Hydroponics in Manchester, details on the web or in the phonebook (they do mail order) I found them OK with some usefull sdvice on lighting.
www.nutriculture.com (better but don't do lights)
The only cavat i would put in, depends where you live/grow. The water in my area is not hard at all (no white stuff in your kettle) so keeping the PH right is easy for me, if you live in a hard water area I would ask another hydro grower with experiance of your water conditions, you may need to add acid (availible with the kit) which may need a bit of suck it & see.
Hope this helps
Regards
HydrSan