Well no....certainly it depends on the setup you're going for. I only mentioned tower because that's the setup I went with: a mini fridge with dual tower on top of the fridge. If you wind up with a large fridge or even go with a big freezer, then you'd find yourself having to invest in several taps anyway. If you don't want to invest in setting up an actual kegorator yet, I would go for just the picnic tap with CO2 and used keg: that gives you the most bang for buck right now. My 2 cents...don't even bother with this particular posting since you're probably only going to find the CO2 tank and regulator the only real usable objects. Decide on what type of taps you want once you secure a fridge you'd like to sacrifice to a kegorator.....and then, later you'll want to get another fridge for lagering....and then.... well this is an evil cycle :cross:
Oh, it's an evil cycle all right.
However, you can "get by" with picnic taps in ANY fridge/keezer/kegerator set up. A tower, or through the door faucets are just better looking and maybe more convenient.
I have a 3/4 sized fridge (apartment sized). I did fine with two kegs and the co2 tank in there, and using picnic taps. Oh, I did have to open the fridge door to use the taps, but I lived. A couple of years later, I drilled the front of my fridge, and also the side (so the co2 tank could go outside) so I could have three faucets and drip trays (pix in gallery). It was a gradual process, and I didn't need the faucets right away.
If you want to get into kegging, though, think first about what you're going to be using for cooling. A freezer, dorm fridge, full side fridge, etc, before you decide on faucets and/or a tower. Some keezers look great with towers, some have the faucets through the collar. For a dorm fridge, if you want faucets, you need a tower (unless you stick with the picnic taps). Any of those ways are acceptable, depending on how many kegs you plan on dispensing at a time, and how much room you have in your house.