Desks — Small, Writing & Home Office Desks with Drawers

Most desks are bought on width, because width is what has to fit the wall. But the measurement that decides whether you can work at one for three hours is the depth — it sets how far the screen sits from your eyes, and no chair adjustment will fix a desk that puts the monitor too close.

There's a second thing that separates a desk at home from a desk in an office: it lives in a room you also live in. It has to work when you're working and look like furniture when you're not. Below you'll find the measurements that matter, and how to make a desk sit properly in a bedroom, a sitting room or a landing.

Desk depth: the measurement people get wrong

A screen wants to be roughly an arm's length from your eyes. Sit as you normally would, stretch your arm out straight, and your fingertips should about touch the screen — for most people that's somewhere between 20 and 40 inches (50–100cm). Closer and your eyes refocus constantly; further and you lean in, which is where the neck ache comes from.

All of that distance has to come out of the desk's depth, and there's less of it than you'd think: a monitor's own stand eats 6 to 10 inches (15–25cm) before the screen even begins.

In practice, 24 inches (60cm) is the working minimum and suits a laptop and little else. 27 to 30 inches (70–76cm) is where a single full-size monitor becomes comfortable, and it's the depth to aim for if the desk gets real use. 30 inches (76cm) or more is what two screens or one very large one need. Below about 20 inches (50cm) the screen crowds your eyes and there's nowhere left for a keyboard in front of it.

If the room genuinely won't take a deep desk, a monitor arm is the fix. Clamped to the back edge it removes the stand entirely and lets a 24 inch (60cm) desk work like a 30 inch (76cm) one — the single most effective thing you can do for a shallow desk, and far cheaper than replacing it.

Desk height and matching your chair

Desk heights barely vary: 28 to 30 inches (71–76cm), with 29 inches (74cm) the most common. That range suits most adults between roughly 5ft 4in and 6ft, and it's consistent because it's set by the human body rather than by fashion.

Since the desk is effectively fixed, the chair does the adjusting. Set it so your forearms rest with your elbows at about a right angle and your wrists straight, then check your feet are flat on the floor — if the chair had to go up to reach the desk and your feet now dangle, you need a footrest rather than a different desk.

Two things to check underneath before buying. A drawer running the full width immediately beneath the top will eat the knee space you need, so look for side-mounted drawer stacks with a clear opening in the middle. And measure your chair's arms against the desk's apron: a chair that won't tuck under is a chair that lives in the middle of the room.

Desk sizes at a glance

Small desks and bedroom desks

Most people working from home in Ireland and Britain aren't doing it in a dedicated study. They're doing it in a bedroom, a corner of the sitting room, or a landing — and that changes what a desk needs to be.

A small desk works if you're honest about what goes on it. At 40 inches (100cm) wide you have room for a laptop, a notebook and a cup, and nothing more; a monitor, a keyboard and papers need 48 inches (120cm) or more. What you should not compromise is the depth — a narrow desk is workable, a shallow one isn't, and if something has to give it should always be width.

A bedroom desk has one extra requirement nobody mentions: you have to be able to stop looking at it. A desk facing the bed keeps work in your eyeline all evening, which is the reason so many bedroom desks end up as clothes horses. Facing a wall or a window, or set where it falls outside the line of sight from the bed, works far better. A desk that closes — a bureau with a fall front, or one with a lid — solves it completely.

For a child's bedroom, a desk sized to an adult is too tall for a primary-school child, and pairing it with a normal chair leaves them reaching up. An adjustable chair with a footrest is the practical answer, since it keeps working as they grow. And as with any tall furniture in a child's room, fix it to the wall.

Where to put a desk: the window question

Position does more for comfort than most accessories, and there are three arrangements worth knowing.

Facing a window is the pleasantest place to sit and the worst place for a screen, because your eyes are constantly adjusting between a bright window and a darker display. If you work mainly on paper it's ideal; if you work on a screen all day it isn't.

With the window behind you is the arrangement to avoid outright. Daylight falls straight onto the screen and washes it out, and you'll end up drawing the curtains at eleven in the morning.

With the window to one side is the answer for screen work. Daylight comes across the desk rather than at it or from behind it, so the surface is well lit and the screen stays readable. It's the same principle as a dressing table, for the same reason.

Whatever the position, work out where the nearest socket is before you commit. A desk that needs an extension lead running across a doorway is a desk that gets moved within a month.

Desks with drawers and storage

A desk at home is usually the only storage the work has, because there's no filing cabinet and no stationery cupboard. That makes the drawers more important than they'd be in an office.

The distinction worth understanding is integrated versus separate. A desk with a built-in drawer stack is tidier and takes no extra floor space, but it fixes where the storage is and can compromise the knee space. A separate under-desk drawer unit on castors gives you the same storage, rolls out of the way when you need legroom, and can be pushed into a cupboard entirely when the room goes back to being a bedroom. In a room that has two jobs, that flexibility is usually worth more than the neater look.

What actually needs storing is smaller than people plan for: chargers, cables, a notebook, a stapler, the things that otherwise live on the surface. One shallow drawer handles most of it. A deep drawer becomes a place things go to be forgotten unless it's fitted with a file frame and you genuinely have files.

Computer desks and writing desks

The two names describe genuinely different pieces, and the difference is depth and cable management.

Computer desks

A computer desk is built around equipment: deep enough for a screen at arm's length, usually with some provision for cables and often a shelf or tray for a tower or a keyboard. If your setup involves a monitor, a keyboard and a mouse that stay out permanently, this is the right category and the depth guidance above applies in full.

Writing desks and bureaus

A writing desk is the older idea and it's shallower, because a person writing needs a paper's depth and not a screen's. That makes it a genuinely different proposition in a small room: a writing desk will fit a wall that a computer desk won't, and it looks like furniture in a way that a computer desk rarely does.

The bureau — a writing desk with a hinged fall front that closes over the work — is the version worth knowing about if the desk lives in a sitting room or a bedroom. Closed, it reads as a chest of drawers and the work disappears entirely. It's the neatest solution ever devised to the problem of a desk in a room that isn't a study, and it long predates anybody working from home.

If you work mostly on a laptop, a writing desk will very likely serve you better than a computer desk, and it will look considerably better in the room.

Putting a home office desk in a room that isn't an office

The practical difference between a desk at work and a desk at home is that this one has to stop being a desk in the evening. Two things make that possible.

Cables. The single thing that makes a home desk look like equipment is a nest of wires. Favour a desk with a solid back panel or a modesty board — it gives the cables somewhere to run behind rather than hanging in the open. A cable tray fixed underneath, or even a simple clip strip along the back leg, does most of the work for very little money.

Clearing. Anything that lets the surface be emptied in a minute is worth paying for: a drawer deep enough for the laptop, a bureau front that closes, a rolling drawer unit that takes the lot. A desk you can clear is a desk you'll be happy to have in the room. One you can't becomes a permanent pile, and no amount of good design rescues it.

Desk FAQs

How deep should a desk be?

At least 24 inches (60cm), and 27 to 30 inches (70–76cm) if you use a full-size monitor. The depth sets how far the screen sits from your eyes, and it wants to be roughly an arm's length — 20 to 40 inches (50–100cm) for most people. Remember a monitor stand consumes 6 to 10 inches (15–25cm) of that before the screen begins. A monitor arm clamped to the back edge lets a shallow desk work like a deeper one.

What is the standard desk height?

Between 28 and 30 inches (71–76cm), with 29 inches (74cm) the most common, which suits most adults from around 5ft 4in to 6ft. Since desk heights barely vary, adjust the chair rather than hunting for a different desk: set it so your forearms rest with your elbows at about a right angle, and add a footrest if your feet no longer reach the floor.

Where should a desk go in a bedroom?

Ideally with a window to one side rather than in front of you or behind you, so daylight crosses the desk instead of glaring off the screen or washing it out. It also helps to place it outside the line of sight from the bed, since a desk you can see from where you sleep keeps work in your eyeline all evening. A desk that closes, like a bureau, removes the problem entirely.

What is the difference between a writing desk and a computer desk?

Depth, mostly. A computer desk is built around a screen and needs enough front-to-back room to sit it an arm's length away, usually with some cable provision. A writing desk is shallower because writing needs paper depth rather than screen depth, which means it fits walls a computer desk won't and generally looks more like furniture. A bureau is a writing desk with a fall front that closes over the work — the tidiest option if the desk lives in a bedroom or sitting room.