You can buy something rickety on Wayfair — or you can follow the advice of teenagers on TikTok and mommy bloggers on the path to a better home office.
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When shopping for a cheap desk, your options number in the tens of thousands, but I wager none are better than a dead-simple Ikea hack.
There isn’t an official name for this hack; indeed, the idea — popularized on Reddit (the subreddits /r/battlestations and /r/ikea, specifically) as well as the PC gaming community on TikTok — it might be too simple to earn the “hack” title. At its most basic, all you need are a pair of Ikea’s Alex Drawers, a tabletop of any kind and a couple of optional add-ons.
The Alex units — which were selling out all over the U.S. at the height of the pandemic — are the legs and foundation of your new desk. You then pick your tabletop, stick some furniture grippers on the Alex units and place the table on top of that. It is literally that simple, and the result is a good-looking, customizable desk that beats out arguably anything in its price range. Here’s exactly why it works, how to do it and everything you need.
Where is the desk going to sit? Get a tape measure out and determine the maximum and minimum width of the desk for your space. Repeat for desk depth. This will determine what tabletops to keep an eye on.
Users over 6’2″ may find the desk sits too low for them to be comfortable. If this is you, consider some simple furniture risers.
Order a room-appropriate tabletop (the most popular options from Ikea are the affordable Linnmon and more expensive Karlby), the Alex drawers and furniture risers as necessary. Assembling the Alex drawers is much like most Ikea builds: simple and vexing at the same time. Take your time, as the drawers will be holding up a lot of very expensive weight (monitors, computers, speakers, etc.). Alex drawers also come with sticky furniture bumpers for the top, which should be placed on before dropping the tabletop on.
Consider cable management accessories, as the Ikea gaming desk setup does not offer a natural way to obscure a cord jungle. Consider monitor arms, desk mats, headphone stands, valet trays and other means to declutter as well.
The Alex drawers pull double duty as the desk’s legs and storage. The units are 27.5 inches tall, which is just about in the standard desk height range (many studies suggest the sweet spot for most people is 28 to 30 inches). The drawers come in white, black-brown and gray-turquoise.
Ikea’s Linnmon table, which also comes in a variety of colors, is far from the only option for the desktop. Go to your local Lumber Liquidators for an affordable and sturdy wood top or throw a marble tabletop you picked up at an antique sale on it; the desktop is up to you.
If you’re on the taller side, consider furniture risers. Because the Alex drawers are on the low-end of standard desk height, users above, say, 6’2″ may find be cramped. These risers are slightly adjustable, but almost any will do.
If you get an especially heavy tabletop, stick these on top of the Alex units to ensure the desktop you choose doesn’t move, slide or wobble. The Alex units do come with smaller no-slip stickers, but excessive weight can flatten them quickly.
The best argument (and the only one necessary for some) is the total cost. Depending on what desktop you go with, you could pull together this desk for around $200. Feel free to trawl Wayfair, Overstock and other budget-minded sites to prove the contrary, but there aren’t many $200 desks that offer what this one does.
You may be able to buy a desk that comes close to your preferred color scheme or the size you want on a budget, but you may have to sacrifice elsewhere. This hacky Ikea setup puts the ball back in your court, allowing you to pick from a few colors for the “legs” and go with whatever desktop look (and size) you want.
Less of a priority for some prospective builders, but a traditional desk is a pain to move with or just move around the house. Because the Ikea setup here is essentially just a few things stacked on top of each other, any kind of moving is simplified.
While this is purely opinion, there aren’t many ultra-cheap desks that look as clean as this setup can with the right color combos. Find a good example below and Google “Ikea Alex desk setup” for more.
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