Why do standing desks not have drawers?
Best Standing Desks With Drawers - Work While Walking
The one big disadvantage of giving up your old fixed-height desk for a new height-adjustable standing desk may be losing your drawer space. In fact, it's one of the biggest reasons that people sometimes opt for a standing desk converter instead of swapping out their entire desk, despite the disadvantages of having a work surface split between two elevations.
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The number of options for standing desks with built-in drawers is really expanding now, with some even featuring full-frontage drawers like this Lander Executive.But it doesn't have to be that way anymore. In this round-up, we bring together the increasing number of standing desk models we have reviewed that either have built-in drawers or offer optional drawers as configuration options when buying them.
If you already own a standing desk and are looking for ways to add storage to it, be sure to check out our separate roundup of Best Options For Adding Storage To A Standing Desk.
So Why are Drawers So Uncommon on Standing Desks?
There are several historical reasons that you still don't see drawers on standing desks too often. Chiefly, these have to do with the significant amount of weight that would be added by attaching wooden drawers to a wooden desktop, space constraints underneath the desktop of typical standing desks, the cost of fabrication (with the added shipping weight), and the strain that the added weight of a drawer(s) might place on the sensitive lifting columns' mechanisms.
Early attempts at building heavy, full-depth drawers into a standing desk ran into design limitations, such as on this now-defunct Healthy Desks unit.As we explain in great detail in our primer on How much do standing desk lift capacity ratings really matter?, the side-loading stresses on a standing desk's legs when lifting an unbalanced load can significantly reduce their rated lifting capacity. And it can shorten their lives by putting too great a strain on the motors and wearing down the glides that separate the tubes. We've seen at least one poorly-engineered attempt at putting full-depth drawers on a standing desk, like on the now-defunct Healthy Desks bamboo executive desk, but designs have significantly improved since then.
There are also a lot of interference issues with other components typically found on the underside of a desktop, like crossbars, top support arms, cables, and handsets. The biggest challenge is with 'T-frame' standing desks, which limit the available drawer depth, as compared to 'C-frame' desks where there's more distance between the user edge and the desk's crossbars.
Finally, assembling some of the lesser quality, lightweight drawers that are offered for standing desks can be a huge pain, starting with flipping your desk over and figuring out where to drill pilot holes and ending with assembling a flimsy, if not unsightly drawer. These are often made with thin metal parts and pseudo-woods like bamboo in order to keep the cost and weight down. Low-quality drawers tend to handle less content weight and may easily rip out their screws if overloaded.
See our other round-up of add-on storage drawers that aren't as fully integrated (mechanically and aesthetically) as the ones we review here.We cover those cheaper options in our other round-up of Best Options For Adding Storage To A Standing Desk, but for this one we're going to focus on standing desks that have built-in drawers, or optional drawers that were really designed as integrated components both aesthetically and mechanically. When truly integrated into the design, these drawers tend to be much easier to install, are more securely attached to the desktop, sport higher content weight ratings, and are just much nicer to look at.
This is definitely one of those categories where you get what you pay for, and you pay for what you get. We've seen some pretty cheesy looking add-on drawers offered for very nice standing desks, and it doesn't make any sense to us why anyone would want to deface their investment that way. So, the standing desks with drawers that we list below are ones that actually look like they were meant to have them and function that way.
What are Your Options for an Adjustable-Height Desk with Storage?
Center Drawers
The Captain's Desk is a true designer desk with a full-width drawer as one of its integral design features.Built-in or add-on drawers mounted in the center of the desk are the most common.
Having a drawer in the center is aesthetically and mechanically balanced, and will have more depth and width available than drawers mounted on the sides where they will run into the lifting columns, top support arms, height control handsets, etc.
Fully's Jarvis Evolve Desk is beautiful but impractical as the drawers are so deep that you can't sit at this desk, you can only stand.Center drawers do have to be shallow, though, so they don't run into your lap when the desk is at sitting height. Some desk designs are improper in this regard, such as Fully's Jarvis Evolve standing desk, which has triple drawers that look beautiful, but they're so deep that this $2,300 desk can only be used standing. Such desks shouldn't even be marketed as sit-to-stand desks because they're really only usable when standing.
The other important consideration when choosing to have a drawer in the center of your desk is that you won't be able to attach an ergonomic keyboard tray there in the future. If you don't ever intend to use one then the issue is moot, but if you're unsure about it, you might want to find a different solution for desk storage.
There are an increasing number of options for a standing desk with integrated drawers on the market today, and two main ways manufacturers have gone about it. One method is to build a shallow drawer built into the center of the desktop, such as you see on the Captain's, Theodore, Comhar, Esben, Northread, Jarvis Evolve, Jarvis Albright, and a few others we've reviewed.
iMovR's 'Premium Drawer' is optional on most of their standing desks, but completely integrated into the design of the desk, with matching faceplates on over 60 finishes and with a 50-lbs load rating.The other approach is to have an optional but integrated drawer that hangs from the desktop, such as iMovR's Premium Drawer, that can be installed on any of their desks that have 1.125' or thicker desktops. This includes their most popular Lander desk line, as well as the Jaxson desk when configured with thicker 'select' desktops. Ergonofis does the same with their solid wood Sway standing desk.
While you can technically install the Premium Drawer on any standing desk with the clearance for it, because it has a heavy-duty 50-lbs content weight rating, iMovR recommends installing it on thicker desktops with enough wood screw purchase to hold up the fully-loaded weight, if your contents are actually going to be that heavy.
The Lander Executive is a luxurious solid wood desk with a thin center drawer flanked by deeper side drawers, and an electronics cabinet on the back side of the desk that spans its entire length. Doesn't get any fancier than this.Then we get to the elevated plateau of executive standing desks with more than just one built-in drawer. The category leader in this segment is iMovR's Lander Executive Solid Wood Desk, which features not only three drawers across the front, but a concealed electronics drawer along the back side of the desk that spans its entire length. But we're talking a starting price of around $6K for a fancy-schmancy unit like this.
Mobile File Cabinets and Credenzas
'UpLift Desk file cabinetsOf course adding drawers isn't the only way to gain storage at your workstation. Most of the major standing desk makers today offer mobile file pedestals, typically in wood laminates matching their desktops or painted steel matching their base frame colors. These specially-designed, two-drawer and three-drawer file cabinets can fit nicely underneath or beside a stand-up desk and are usually high enough off the ground to roll over the feet of the desk, as well.
Some, like the iMovR Mobile File Pedestal and the UpLift Rolling File Cabinet, are so sturdy they can even be rolled out as an extra seat for an impromptu guest who stops by your office. These mobile pedestal options come in a wide range of quality, features, sizes, and decors. For more information about these rolling file cabinets check out our comprehensive, separate round-up of Standing Desk File Cabinet Reviews.
We're seeing more and more storage options, like this iMovR 2-door credenza, that allow you to accessorize your standing desk with all sorts of matching cabinetry, going beyond the basic rolling file pedestal.So far, we've only seen something bigger than a mobile file pedestal in décor-matched storage accessories from iMovR with their 2-door solid wood credenza, which adds a whopping 10 cubic feet of additional storage.
As we understand it, iMovR is also working on various bookcases, etageres, and other matching accessories for their Lander Collection, Solid Wood Collection, and Executive Desk Collection, all coming soon. Everything centered around one of their premium-grade sit-to-stand desks in some 60 different finish options.
Under-desk Equipment Docks
The Tech Dock hides your laptop under the desk to recover desktop real estate.There are some clever solutions out there for freeing up desktop real estate currently being taken up by a laptop, tablet, or other devices. Of course there are conventional CPU holders that most standing desk manufacturers offer (or you can find on Amazon), but one of our favorites for standing desk and treadmill desk workstations is the iMovR Tech Dock, which is super versatile.
Monitor Risers
Monitor risers, like this 'Fly Deck' sitting atop an iMovR Ensign Desk, create additional storage space underneath your desktop equipment.Not often thought of as a means of adding more storage to a standing workstation, monitor risers can help create more desktop storage by creating space underneath your monitor(s).
See our full round-up of The Best Monitor Risers For Standing Desks.
Which standing desk storage option is best for you?
A few more notes to consider when making your choice:
- You may need more storage space in your standing desk workstation than adding on a single drawer can provide. Most add-on drawers aren't very tall and don't pull out all the way, meaning the back section will be very hard to access. If all you're storing is mobile devices, note pads, and some standard office supplies, you may be fine. However, be sure to check the inside dimensions before buying.
- Check interior dimensions carefully. We've seen several manufacturers list rough dimensions at the top of their product page, only to list slightly smaller dimensions elsewhere in the 'specs' section. This could be an issue if you plan to store your laptop or tablet in the drawer and come to find out the drawer is ¼' too short to accommodate it.
- Measure your under-desk spacing very carefully. If you have a small desk or a keyboard tray, it could be hard to fit an add-on drawer.
- Some standing desk add-on drawers, like the UpLift Locking Under Desk Drawer with Shelf, hang down very far. This will limit your leg space when sitting and make it harder to rotate out of your chair as you get up.
- Standing desks with built-in drawers don't allow you to add a keyboard tray and make it difficult to install a monitor arm. These kinds of desks are best used with laptops or for shorter sprints at work. Any desk you're going to be at for hours on end should be fully outfitted with an ergonomic keyboard tray and ergonomic monitor arm for maximum productivity and prevention of repetitive strain injuries.