Open Mike: Those Wonderful Sit-Stand Desks

One problem with standing desks. They break.

However, they are truly a luxury if, like me, you spend a lot of time at your desk. Half because of the intended purpose, which is to allow you to stand up and keep working and then, after a little while, sit down again; that's nice. The other half because you can make small changes to the height of your desk—to vary your arm position while typing, make it easier to get to things underneath the desk, make it easier to get in and out if you have a regular chair, or just to get the desk at the exact right height for you in the first place. They're very nice.

And the good news is, adjustable standing (AKA stand-up, AKA sit-stand) desks have gotten cheap.

Rock of Gibraltar
The first one I ever saw was at an office furniture store in Wisconsin. The top of the line SPFE sit-stand desk on display was a thing of beauty. It had a gorgeous thick real wood top and was as solid and steady as the rock of Gibraltar. It moved up and down smoothly and quietly with the touch of a button. Standing desks had never entered my consciousness before that. I wanted one immediately.

It also cost something like $2,100 in fifteen-years-ago money ($3,037 today). I mulled it over for months or maybe a year or two and eventually bought the "budget" model from the same manufacturer for around $1,100. It had lighter legs and a thinner (1-inch, 2.54 cm) laminate top (depth and width 31x65 inches, 79x165 cm). Still plenty nice enough.

Mine has had it rough. It survived incompetent installers who mucked everything up and departed with the new desk still inoperable (the store had to find the guy who knew what he was doing and send him along later); several bits and pieces coming loose over the years; and Lulu chewing up one of the connector plugs! The plug still worked post-mastication, which was a blessing. The desk also survived the 740 mile trip to New York in a jam-packed moving van driven by bandits. Not to mention ten years of service. Worth $110/yr.? I'd say yes.

But it finally broke. This morning the right side of the desk is eight inches higher than the left. It's not moving, but it's still making me a little seasick. Web search turns up several people with the same problem pleading for a source of parts. But the company that made it is long since out of business.

Cheaper by China
These days, though, standing desks are much less expensive. (The Chinese got to them.) I don't need a new top, but you can buy the leg sets alone for reasonable prices. I bought this heavy-duty leg set from Amazon for $346 with free shipping:

Capacity 275 lbs., the highest I could find. Made by a company called Mount-It! [sic], which sounds both very Chinese as well as a little dirty. That's actually on the expensive side; you can get leg sets for almost half that now—this is Amazon's "Overall Pick"—and whole desks like this one for $240.

I think my new leg set (arriving on Wednesday) is an outgoing model; the new top-of-the-line desks from Mount-It! have a load capacity of 220 lbs., which is, obviously, still reasonable unless you're overweight and plan to lie down on it. I'm not necessarily recommending any particular brand. It looks like some of the leg sets and desks that Amazon sells are generic, without even a brand name tacked on for show. And some of the brand names that do come up aren't exactly venerated well-known names. Topsky? Fezibo? Radlove? Sweetcrispy?!? However, you'll also notice that most of them also get high ratings from customer reviewers, so it looks like problems aren't...well, a problem.

My outgoing one just has two buttons, up and down. The new control modules have presets, exact height readouts in inches or centimeters, several presets, and time reminders—all of which would be useful, in my opinion.

Heirloom desktop
I'll tell you what I'd do if I were starting over, though. I'd get a stout leg set, then find a Mennonite or Amish cabinetmaker to make me a stunning real-wood desktop out of some sort of pretty wood. I fancy American black walnut, though you might have a different preference. As a bonus, that would let me specify the exact size I wanted. If you're an amateur woodworker, you could make one yourself.

Then, if the lifting mechanism ever broke again, I'd just get another leg set. And end up bequeathing my beautiful custom top to my son or grandson.

My desk might have broken, and I'm going to be listing to the side for the next couple of  days, but it's all good. I'm a big fan of standing desks all the same. They're well worth the trouble in my book.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2024 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Mike S: "I worked in a 911 center and we had dual-level powered sit-stand desks. The desk top was split into two parts. The rear section held the six monitors and the front section was for keyboards, pointing devices, coffee, oh so much coffee. Both levels could be raised in tandem, but the genius design allowed the monitor level to be lowered below the keyboard level. Alternating between standing and sitting is the best way to survive, but being able to also alternate between looking straight (or up) at monitors versus standing and looking at a downward angle is pure luxury during a 12-hour shift. Very high quality, used 24 hours a day, 356 days a year and probably cost as much as my non-existent Leica."

Steve L.: "Mine is from Standdesk. I bought it many years ago (like 10 maybe) after reading about the concept right here on your blog, I think. It's worked flawlessly, though for most of it's life I've used it mainly standing up. Now that I'm in my mid sixties I seem to be splitting my day more, half standing and half sitting. I just checked their website and they have a lifetime warranty, which might interest you if you ever need another one. Cheap, too. I paid way more when I got mine years ago."

Comments

[SteveW]

I have an uplift V2 standing desk, and it's very solid and works great.

https://www.upliftdesk.com/uplift-v2-standing-desk-v2-or-v2-commercial/?sharedid=&irpid=197432&utm_source=affiliate&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=The%20WireCutter&irgwc=1

Recommended by NYT Wirecutter:

https://www.nytimes.com/wirecutter/reviews/best-standing-desk/

I upgraded the wood (reclaimed fir) on mine and spent about $900.

[Mike]

Tip: use threaded inserts in the desk top and attach the legs/frames using machine screws.

I used these along with some 1/4"-20 screws:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002WC8TUW?th=1

[robert e]

My father just bought a standing desk for less than $200. Some of the screw attachments will need revisiting but otherwise it's quite serviceable for his needs and surprisingly sturdy. He never stands at it, just adjusts the height of the desk for different tasks.

And thanks for pointing out that I can buy just the legs and use the IKEA desktop I'm using now.

[Marc]

For what it’s worth you don’t necessary have to be much of a woodworker. I bought the sit-stand base, then a bit of wooden, kitchen bench from a large hardware store (60cm deep, but they did 90cm too). I gave it a light sand and a bit of Danish oil and now I’ve my desk at exactly the right size (it had to sit in a dogleg corner without jutting out or pushing into the curtains). It wasn’t as easy as buying the whole shebang but it looks good and it fits.

My only problem is, standing really angries up my hip/pelvis pain. I did not see that coming, so now it’s just a sit desk.

[Not THAT Ross Cameron]

Hi Mike, my wife found me one a couple of years ago on special.

Bought it for health reasons - too much sitting shortens a certain muscle from leg to hip & can cause lower back pain, along with muscle atrophy in the glutes.

Given how solid the legs were, I was using a band on it for leg exercises from my physiotherapist. All was going well until I forgot to take the band off, and pushed the memory button for my sitting position. The desk munched the band into the lower leg. I tried picking out the band, but couldn’t get it all out. The leg couldn’t go any further down, and couldn’t go up either - it was in error mode, and had to return to default position (all the way down) before it could be reset.

We were looking for a new house soon after, so I had to put it on the back burner. After moving and setting up my new home office, I was able to pull things apart, get to the elevating mechanism, and manually wind it up using a shifter and pull out all the munched band. Finally! I have my desk back. Now I just need to find the time to do my Physio exercises properly again.

[Dan Khong]

IKEA makes a variety of standing desks at affordable prices.

[Kye Wood]

...bandits.

Why are they all bandits?

Surely there's a market for careful intelligent removalists? Having had a dozen of them over my life, the only consistent factor is gross neglect and a sense of hyper urgency. So they can finish early and what then? Go onto their phones?

In movies, rich people have access to good removalists. How I wish that was a thing. Universally, they mistake kindness for weakness and always break the only thing you desperately wanted to keep unbroken.

Yes Bandits is a perfect descriptor.

[M Douglas]

You should confirm suspiciously high Amazon ratings on no-name brands with a review checker like https://reviewmeta.com. Review fraud is sadly very common on Amazon.

[Keith]

I had a standing desk during one of my corporate gigs. Loved it! Only problem was that it didn't go high enough for me. I ended up hoarding a bunch of copier paper bundles to raise things the extra couple of inches I needed. At one point they were selling them off after a purge, but I was too late to get one. Sigh.

[Grant]

Instead of having your Anabaptist friends make you a table top, just have them give you some scrap blocks of wood. Bring the blocks home and place them under the legs on the low side of the table, until it matches the high side. Pocket the unspent money.

Sometimes Mike you overthink things.

[Paul Bass]

Topsky? Fezibo? Radlove? Sweetcrispy?!?

I am convinced these are AI-generated names.

[Herman Krieger]

I'll sit this one out.

[JoeB]

ya haven't a leg to stand on....
sorry could not resist