I love having front racks on my bikes. On my touring rig it is necessary for me to carry the amount of gear that I use when bike camping. I really like a rack with a deck for touring, I try and leave that space clear (just have panniers mounted up front) so that I can pick up food from farmers roadside stands or a six pack of beer at the last store before the campground, or even some firewood. I do just fine with some pretty heavy loads of front, but YMMV.

The bike I use for a commuter turned out to be much more suited to having a front rack than a rear. This was a departure for me, just having a rack up front, I used to wonder about the guys I'd see commuting who had their loads up front, but I find that it works just fine. I lot of the time I'll have one fairly heavy pannier hanging off the front for my ~7 miles each way commute through a hilly city. I've even carried one large size Ortlieb crammed completely full of donated books on that commute - no problems, although it was a bit fatiguing for one arm.

The rack I have up front doesn't have a solid deck, but there are crossbars so I can still balance a load up here when I need to. I'm actually considering adding a wood deck to it though, as I do miss having a solid deck.

Sorry, I can't really recommend an inexpensive rack. I shelled out a lot of dough for a Nitto Campee/Rivendell Big Front Rack for my commuter and my tourer has an Old Man Mountain Cold Springs rack. Both great racks, I believe the Cold Springs model has been superseded by a newer one now though. Neither are what you'd describe as economical choices. If you are really pinched for cash though I've seen people mount inexpensive rear racks on the front.