At face value, an office desk is a simple piece of furniture–a few legs, a flat surface, and bingo!
However, choosing an office desk for your workspace is more complex than going to the nearest office store and picking one randomly. There are a vast number of styles and features that can add value to your employees and make them more effective at their jobs.
Make the wrong choice, and you will be stuck with desks that don’t suit the business, have the features employees need, or even cause discomfort. Before uprgrading your office’s furniture it it importance to consider different types of desks and how to find the right furniture for a fraction of their MSRP with pre-owned desks.
Common Types of Office Desks
Before you commit to a new desks, establishing what kinds of desks are out there will be beneficial. Most businesses will buy desks fitting one or more of the following descriptions:

- Wave Desk: Wave desks are deeper on one side than the other, with a gradual “wave” that smoothly joins the two sides. They provide a large workspace without taking up too much room and can accommodate lots of storage underneath the desk on the deep side. However, be aware their footprint is larger because of the deeper side of the desk, which can make them too large for small workspaces.
- Corner Desk: Corner desks sit in the corner of a room or against other corner desks. They have a deep, square footprint and a curve where the desk user sits. Corner desks provide space for storage underneath as well as a substantial amount of desk real estate.
- Bench Desk: Typically, people imagine bench desks as the quintessential desk. They are rectangular, come in various depths, and are often cost-effective. You can find large or small, short or tall, and different colored bench desks, making them a versatile desk format for many workplaces.
- Back-to-Back Desk: Back-to-back desks create a workspace for multiple people by joining multiple desks together, often with a privacy wall. You can effectively turn any of the previously mentioned desks into back-to-back desks by putting them together and erecting a wall.
- Standing Desk: Standing desks are often bench desks with electronic lifts underneath them that enable the desk user to sit or stand at their desk with the press of a button. They have been gaining popularity as studies continue to show the downsides of sitting too much. However, standing desks are often pricier and only fit well in a dynamic workspace.
Where to Buy Desks for Your Workplace
While one of the above desks is sure to fit the needs of your employees, they may not fit your budget. Desks that have the best features and stand the test of time are not cheap. Before you know it, you can spend a couple thousand dollars on each desk for every employee.
Although we agree premium office furniture is a must for businesses that don’t want to buy new furniture again in a few years, we know it doesn’t have to cost your business so dearly. Instead of buying new, consider pre-owned desks for your workplace.
Pre-owned desks are often premium, like-new pieces of furniture you can buy for a fraction of their MSRP. In other words, your employees can reap all the benefits of top-of-the-line desks for incredibly low prices.
If it’s time to upgrade your office desks, we can help with our extensive inventory of used and new office furniture. We carry a variety of pre-owned office furniture, including pre-owned desks, pre-owned office chairs, and pre-owned filing cabinets. In addition, we can help you envision the future of your office with our free CAD layout design services. Click here to start building the office your employees need.