A desk bought off a shelf is one height for everyone. Built-in joinery can be set to the person who works at it, which is the whole argument for doing it properly when the room is used forty hours a week.
Twenty nine to thirty inches is the height nearly every desk is made to, and it is a manufacturing convention rather than an ergonomic finding. Sitting at it, most people are typing slightly too high, which is why wrists ache and shoulders creep upward through an afternoon.
The seated typing height that suits most adults is lower, roughly twenty six to twenty eight inches, and a built-in surface can simply be made at that height. Under it you want clear knee room, around twenty five inches of height and at least twenty four inches of width with nothing in the way.
Depth matters too. Twenty four to thirty inches lets a monitor sit far enough back that your eyes are not working hard at close range all day. None of this costs more to build; it only costs a conversation before the surface is cut. See the rooms hub, custom cabinets and drawer organisation.
Recent work
How it works
How an Office Wall Is Planned
Sit down and measure
We set the desk height to the person who will use it rather than to the catalogue. That single number is the difference between a room you can work in all day and one you cannot.
Plan the power first
Sockets, data and charging points get located before anything is fixed, because a socket added afterwards means a lead running across the surface for the rest of its life.
Size the shelf bays
Bays are set by what goes on them. Books get shorter spans or a divider; files and boxes get their own dimensions. Empty shelves all look identical, loaded ones do not.
Build in, then finish
Carcasses scribed to the walls, surface fitted, cables routed through, and the same finish as the rest of the house so the room does not read as office furniture.
Shelves and cables
Books Are Heavier Than Shelves Expect
A run of books is a serious load, and a shelf that looks fine empty will bow within a year of holding them. Three quarter inch plywood carries a book load across roughly thirty two to thirty six inches; particleboard and thin MDF give up considerably sooner, closer to twenty four to thirty.
So the fix is span rather than thickness: a vertical divider, a support at the back, or simply shorter bays. Once a shelf has taken a set it does not come back, which is why this is worth deciding before the run is built rather than after the second Christmas.
Cables are the other thing people live with rather than solve. Grommets through the surface, a channel or tray behind the desk and a socket inside the cabinet turn a nest of leads into something you never look at. See storage accessories, door styles and painted finishes.
Built to last
Other rooms
Cabinetry in the Other Rooms
A desk is a height problem. These rooms each have a different one.
Desk heights, shelf spans, cables and what built-in gets you.
Standard is 29 to 30 inches, which is a manufacturing convention. Seated typing suits most adults nearer 26 to 28. Built-in joinery can be made at whatever height fits you.
Around 25 inches of clear height and at least 24 inches of width, with nothing in it. A drawer box that intrudes into that space makes an otherwise good desk unusable.
Twenty four to thirty inches. That puts a monitor far enough back that your eyes are not focusing at close range all day, and leaves room to write beside the keyboard.
Span, not thickness. Three quarter inch plywood holds books across roughly 32 to 36 inches; particleboard gives up nearer 24 to 30. Once a shelf takes a set it stays bowed.
Yes, and it is the detail people notice most afterwards. Grommets through the surface, a tray or channel behind, and a socket inside a cabinet for the chargers and the router.
It is if the room is a fixed shape or you work there daily. You get the height you want, storage that fits the wall exactly, and no gaps at the ends collecting dust.
Yes. Same door profile, finish and hardware as the kitchen if you want it, which stops the room reading like office furniture parked in a spare bedroom.
We measure the person before the wall, plan the power before anything is fixed, and size shelf bays for what is actually going on them. Quoted by the linear foot.
