25 Desks, Vetted 25 Ways

When Blakely remodeled her Los Angeles home, she installed a mid-century modern secretary desk with two drop-down shelves that create “the perfect small-space desk and bar.” Though there’s no exact replica for Blakely’s vintage piece, AllModern’s multipurpose white floating desk has two drop-down shelves and a modern look.

Obell told us the design of this desk suits her minimalist style, and the white marble desktop serves as a canvas for her to add “pops of color from desk accents like a stack of books, a cute tray shaped as red lips.” She likes that because the drawers are open-facing, they “force me to keep them tidy.” Obell also tells us it was “easy to assemble, which I appreciate as a single woman. All I had to do was screw on the legs.”

[Editor’s Note: This desk is in stock on Amazon, but it will take 1-2 months to ship to you.]

The artist tells us that in place of a desk, he prefers to use this coffee table from Ikea to work on “smaller drawings.” Brutus says he leans over it from his couch and that it “isn’t so low that it strains my back.”

Desks aren’t generally featured in concerts, except Bob Boilen’s, which is used in NPR’s “Tiny Desk Concert” videos. His L-shaped eight-by-six-foot desk sits in the network’s D.C. office and comes from Herman Miller’s Canvas Office line. Since those are only available in bulk, get this L-shaped six-by-six-foot desk from Bush Business Furniture, which comes with a wide top and looks quite similar.

Dr. Donna Housman says having a flip-top desk will help ensure children store their belongings properly, as it gives them “a special place that belongs just to them.” We particularly like this handsome-yet-unobtrusive wooden option.

For New York City–based special-education music teacher Connay Bratton, having a desk with wheels enables her to “easily transition the classroom into a better setup for my students,” who do a lot of “hands-on project-based learning in groups.”

[Editor’s Note: This exact model is sold out, but Symple Stuff makes a couple wheeled desks, like this mobile computer desk with a keyboard tray and this desk with a hutch.]

The DMs to New York Magazine’s literary critic are filled with people asking Young where she got her charming little pink desk. “I instruct them to set an eBay alert for ‘pink Formica table,’ ” which is how Young found it, she says. This dining table on Pamono is quite similar to hers.

Just as most people reached the one-month mark of working from home during the coronavirus pandemic, Ashley Parker, a Pulitzer Prize–winning White House reporter for the Washington Post, took to Twitter looking for an in-stock desk. “I am losing my mind and don’t know how much longer I can work from my ‘left side of the bed’ home office,” she wrote. At just over 28-inches wide, complete with two drawers, her “gold standard” of small desks — the Dean Console by Safavieh — is sold out online, except at a couple of smaller sites. However, this desk from Mercury Row, which is available at several major retailers, is a pretty close dupe, down to the 28.3-inch width, double set of drawers, and comparable price tag.

If you prefer function over form when it comes to standing desks, both chiropractor Jan Lefkowitz and integrative pain expert Joe Tatta vouch for the Varidesk, because it can switch between standing and sitting height. Tatta explains that “substituting prolonged standing for prolonged sitting results in a greater feeling of discomfort,” so he likes that this three-plane desk “accommodates a variety of body types and postures.”

According to writers and editors at Curbed, another desk solution for small spaces is this wall-mounted Elfa pick, which includes three shelves. “Transform a small nook from wasted space to functional desk with this set that uses only one piece of track mounted to the wall,” explain the writers. Plus, on the Container Store’s website, the desk gets dozens of five-star reviews (with none under four stars), including one Manhattan-based customer who calls the purchase their “best decision ever,” adding that they can now study in their studio apartment instead of going to a cafe with enough space.

Real-estate developers and mechanical engineers praise the minimalist look and sturdy construction of this Zinus Soho desk, which is the best-rated home-office desk and writing desk on Amazon. The rectangular desk is two feet deep and ranges from 47 to 63 inches long, providing what one reviewer describes as a “huge work space so I can spread everything out, and my desk-chair arms fit underneath without getting stuck so I can roll around freely.” The under-$200, flat-pack desk is from Zinus’s readily available Modern Studio Collection, which also includes these well-reviewed bed frames and mattresses that have been tested (and approved) by Strategist writers and comedians, so we expect it’ll last.

[Editor’s Note: This desk is in stock, but it’ll take 2-4 weeks to ship to you.]

Writer Kayla Levy had been a fan of this Reader Desk from local design company Akron Street for a while (she’d been seeing it on her Instagram for months), but its $595 price tag was a tad too high. She wasn’t the only one: Enough other people have their eye on the Reader (Strategist writer Lauren Ro, included) that it’s back-ordered until the fall of 2020. So she tried to find an in-stock dupe: “Direct-to-consumer furniture brand Inside Weather makes an extremely similar-looking, now on sale desk called the Jorn, which comes complete with an open drawer and back ledge,” she says. “When it’s not on sale, though, it’s more expensive than the Reader itself. Blu Dot’s modern-looking Stash Desk is a close second, but it might take a couple of weeks to ship.”

With over 2,000 reviews and an average rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars on Fully, a direct-to-consumer furniture company, thousands of customers appreciate this sustainably built, customizable standing desk for its sleek look and expert-approved ergonomic setup. “It is beautiful, extremely sturdy, and easy to move up and down,” says one grad student, who found the desk to be better for her back pain than biweekly visits to the chiropractor. Plus, four staffers at the Verge recommend the desk for working from home, including Nick Statt, who calls the Jarvis “far and away my best work-from-home purchase in years.” At just under $500, Statt adds that the desk is “rather pricey by desk standards, but cheap by standing desk standards,” especially for one that “looks great.”

According to our data, this well-reviewed standing desk is the most-purchased desk by Strategist readers over the last 30 days. Similar to the Jarvis, it has a sleek wood-and-white design and an electric lift system, which one five-star Amazon reviewer says rises and lifts quickly and according to your height. “Never knew I needed an electric height adjustable desk until I got this one,” they add.

[Editor’s Note: This desk is sold-out in this color, but it is still available in oak or all-black.]

Among the acrylic and periwinkle-toned desks that Kayla’s friends picked out in a quick poll, a couple said that wooden, trestle desks — with sloping legs and room for underneath storage — were their favorite design. “It has a nice design, but is still super-functional with work desk vibes,” explains SEO content editor Sofie Wise. Pottery Barn Teen (of all places) carries this exact, albeit over-budget, type of desk, but there’s a cheaper version for sale at Hayneedle.

[Editor’s Note: This desk is currently out of stock.]

When we explored the workspaces of creative and productive people, Emma Mcilroy, the CEO of Portland-based feminist clothing line Wildfang, says she gets the most work done at her West Elm Jensen Desk. “It’s kind of mid-century-inspired because I’m really into that era,” she says of the desk, which has a wooden A-frame base and sleek glass surface.

“For anyone (everyone?) trying to shoehorn a work-from-home situation into an already-full home, a corner desk will work wonders,” says lifestyle journalist and author of The Little Book of Living Small, Laura Fenton. This triangular Andover Mills desk has over 1,500 five-star reviewers on Wayfair, who vouch for its small but functional storage spaces. “The desktop is spacious enough to accommodate my two full-size computer monitors,” says one reviewer, and another adds, “I love the little shelves underneath to tuck away our small printer and books.”

[Editor’s Note: This desk is currently out of stock, but an extremely similar looking model from Andover Mills (which has nearly 400 five-star ratings) is in stock here.]

When Strategist writer (and our resident home-design expert) Lauren Ro isn’t writing at her vintage desk, she works from bed or the couch with this lap desk. “I wanted something that was sturdy and also looked nice, so I opted for this bamboo one with cutouts that help keep your laptop cool,” she says, adding “it also has a ton of neat features, like adjustable legs and a tabletop that can be tilted to a range of angles.” Much like Liz Carey’s lap desk (turned Fruit Loops-in-bed tray), Ro imagines that her bamboo desk would double as a great breakfast-in-bed tray. Strategist writer Tembe Denton Hurst also stands by her slightly less-expensive laptop tray, which has a convenient mini shelf and is big enough for a 17-inch laptop. — Additional reporting by Louis Cheslaw