The desk is the anchor of a setup. Everything else, from the monitor to the shelf to the way you sit, depends on it. Yet most people choose a desk by looks and price, and only discover the size is wrong once the monitor is mounted.

I’ve worked on three very different desks over the years: an IKEA Karlby countertop, the Grovemade Standing Desk and the BALOLO Desk Cockpit. Here’s what they taught me.

The short answer: 80 × 160 cm

If you have the room, a desk around 80 cm deep and 160 cm wide should honestly be the standard. It gives you room to work, and it lets you sit at a comfortable distance from an ultrawide or a large monitor.

That’s not a strict rule. If your room only fits something smaller, make it work. But it’s the size I’d measure every option against.

Depth matters more than you think

The IKEA Karlby taught me this the hard way. It’s one of the most common desks you’ll see online, and it’s beautiful. I worked on one for years. But for me it was simply too shallow:

• I was constantly running out of space.

• I sat too close to the monitor.

• There was barely room for a desk shelf behind the keyboard.

It was fine when I was starting out, but not for professional work.

Depth is what decides how far you sit from the screen and whether everything fits in front of you: the monitor, a desk shelf, a desk mat, the keyboard and the mouse. The bigger your monitor, the more depth you need.

Width: room for everything around you

Width decides what fits around your main working area: speakers, a lamp, a charger, a notepad.

My current desk is the Grovemade Standing Desk. Its depth is perfect for me, but I’ve always wished it were a bit wider, especially for speakers on the sides once a desk shelf is in place. That’s why for my 2026 makeover I went for Grovemade’s Extra Large desk shelf, which runs the full width of the desk. With the regular large shelf, I always felt short on space at the edges.

If you use a large desk shelf or studio monitors, width is where you’ll feel the squeeze first.

Standing desk? Check the height range and the wall

If you can afford a standing desk, get one. Not because you’ll stand all day (I almost never do), but because adjustable height removes friction. I can sit cross-legged and just lower the desk instead of readjusting my chair. Cable management and vacuuming underneath also get much easier, because I just raise the desk.

Before buying one, check three things:

• Height range. The Grovemade goes from 64 to 128 cm, which covers most people sitting or standing.

• Presets and limits. The Grovemade saves two height presets, and the BALOLO saves four through its app. A height limit is the setting I’d look for: it stops the desk from hitting a wall shelf above it.

• The wall in front of you. At full height, a standing desk plus a monitor and a desk shelf can collide with a shelf hung too low. In my 2026 makeover I built a 3D model of the room first and decided the height of every fixed piece before drilling anything. The tallest wall shelf sits at about 190 cm.

What’s under the desktop matters too

A desk isn’t only its surface. What’s underneath changes how you use it:

• Drawers. The Grovemade has a big aluminium drawer built in. It’s great for keeping tools hidden, but it adds thickness under the desktop, which makes clamp-style accessories (like a microphone arm) harder to fit and takes away some leg room.

• Cable management. A built-in cable tray and a pass-through make a huge difference. The BALOLO has a large pass-through cutout and a mounting grid underneath for its accessories, including a cable tray that opens from both sides.

• Feet. If your desk sits on a rug, adjustable feet help. The BALOLO’s feet screw in so you can level it on uneven floors.

Protect whatever you choose

Wood desks scratch, especially darker woods. The Karlby is known for scratching easily, and a good desk mat is the simplest protection. I compared the materials I’ve used in the desk accessories I use every day.

The desks I’ve used, in short

• IKEA Karlby: beautiful and affordable, available in very wide sizes, but shallow. It’s a great start if you put a good frame or drawers under it.

• Grovemade Standing Desk: a design piece with premium materials, a drawer and a big cable tray. It’s narrower than I’d like.

• BALOLO Desk Cockpit: rock solid, modular, with the same grid as the Setup Cockpit shelf. It’s the most functional of the three.

→ Shop the desks and frames I’ve used: Furniture

→ Brand pages: BALOLO · Grovemade · IKEA

The desk is one of the three big purchases, together with the chair and the monitor. In The Desk Setup Guide I go through all three in depth, with the measurements I use, picks at three budget levels and the planning process I follow before buying any of them.

Watch the video: Top 5 Desk Setup Mistakes (& How to Fix Them)

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