Morgan,
thank you for your quick response.
At first, I thought about getting a bigger motor. However the NEMA 17 with a proper gear reduction has plenty of torque. I've chosen the following motor with 51:1 gearbox which seems very reasonable.
As for the driver, I think I'll buy the Pololu DRV8825 chip as it has higher rated current compared to A4988 and has potential of 1/32 microstepping. Other than that, I can't find any other major differences between them.