Upon moving a bunch of wooden planks into my inventory into survival, I noticed that the crafting table was the only utility block who's recipe I'd unlocked, despite having more than enough wood for a chest. Only crafting the chest itself gave me the recipe for it. I would assume this to be an unintended feature, if only because all other recipes I have checked so far showed up before they were crafted.
You need 9 different items in your inventory to unlock the chest.