Standing desks or sit-stand desks can be a great option for people who work regularly while sitting down and want to keep their posture varied for health reasons.
Many manufacturers create electric or motorized standing desks that can change height between optimum sitting and standing positions without manual intervention. These can be used to quickly transform a sitting desk into a standing one, with the option of saving height presets that can be recalled with buttons on the controller.
With that said, an aspect that can often be a problem with standing desks is storage. Due to their nature and construction, many standing desks come with minimal or no storage.
If you are looking for the best motorized standing desk that can also satisfy your storage requirements, you might have to look a little more closely at the market to find the right solution for you.
In this article, we will look at storage options in standing desks, what you can expect with most products on the market, and what your options are if you really want a standing desk that prioritizes storage. We will also suggest a few product options for you that can tick all the right boxes according to your needs.
Why Don’t Standing Desks Have Storage?
Most standard desks come with storage, often with a variety of storage options. Some incorporate modular solutions where you can add more storage if you want down the line.
However, it’s not common to see standing desks with a lot of storage, and they most often have none at all. There are a few reasons why manufacturers either cannot or do not want to include built-in storage when designing standing desks.
If you consider the structure of a standing desk, it usually consists of a metal frame with a desktop sitting on top of it. It is the legs of the frame that have the motors incorporated in them, so that they can expand upwards or downwards to decide the height of the desktop plank.
Since these desks are used for both sitting and standing, there has to be enough clearance for the feet while sitting and enough height to stand comfortably while working.
Due to these differences with a standard desk, which sits static and does not need to move up or down, there are significant compromises which manufacturers need to think about when designing storage options.
The first concern is the clearance at different heights. In most standard desks, the storage is situated at the bottom of the desktop. Doing this with a standing desk might cause clearance issues when the desk is at its lowest setting. It can also cause fouling with the legs when it is at standing height, especially if the user employs some kind of exercising accessory.
The second issue is weight. Standard desks can carry a lot of weight due to their rigid structure and base. With standing desks, attaching more weight to the desktop in the form of storage solutions also means that the motor will have to lug the weight once it is time for the height to change.
While modern motors are very powerful and efficient, there is still a limit to the weight they can carry. Also, adding weight to the desktop in the form of storage can make the up and down movement slower and more laborious while placing more strain on the motors. It can also cause stability issues while the desktop is at the higher positions due to a significantly raised center of gravity.
Due to these important factors, you often do not see many standing desks come with storage solutions.
Many of the ones that do have storage only feature a little drawer under the desktop that can, at most, house a small number of papers, headphones, flash drives, and odds and ends. This kind of storage is meant for light, sparse loads.
If you want something more substantial, you will have to look closely at manufacturers solving this problem with innovation.
Fortunately, there are many manufacturers who offer motorized standing desks with innovative storage options. These try to solve the inherent problems of the platform in creative ways.
Top Standing Desks with Storage
Here are our top recommendations for standing desk options that come with more storage that you would find in most such products.
Fezibo Electric Standing Desk
This immensely popular and highly rated electric standing desk solves the problem of storage by adopting the most obvious solution.
Instead of adding storage to the underside of the desktop plank, it adds storage to the top. This prevents any clearance issues and actually ends up offering a lot more storage than would be otherwise possible.
The construction of this desk involves an additional raised plank on top of the desktop that is meant to work as a monitor stand or riser. Moreover, the space between the desktop and the riser is utilized well by incorporating two separate drawers on two sides with a small cubby in the middle, all of which can function as storage.
The drawers are much larger than those that would typically be found in standing desks using the space under the desk. These are substantially sized and can hold larger items. The cubby in the middle can be used to store the keyboard and the mouse when not in use, or other items such as portable hard drives and USB hubs.
Fezibo also goes one step further by offering this desk in two versions – the double drawer and the quad-drawer. While the double drawer version only has drawers on top, the quad-drawer version adds even more storage by adding two smaller, more slender drawers to the underside of the desktop.
There are plenty of customization options where you can choose your frame type, desktop type, and controller. The motor is quiet (unlike your annoying neighbor’s motorcycle!) and powerful and the desktop can hold up to 176 lbs (which is the same weight of Pearl the Fat Vampire in Blade at age 6).
iMovR Standing Desks
This premium brand of standing desks has two product options that come with drawers that offer enough space for most usual needs.
The Lander standing desk would earlier come without any storage but is now available with an under-desk drawer that comes with a customizable 3D laminate drawer face.
This drawer provides a storage capacity of 50 lbs. While this does not seem very large, the size and dimensions of the drawer make it possible to store not just documents and small items but also larger, flat items like laptops and tablets. Another convenience feature is the passthrough cable channel in the back, which means that the drawer can be used to store one or more electronic devices and they can also be charged while in storage.
The Captain’s Desk from iMovR provides even more storage. While the desktop is a little smaller than their previous desk, the entire front surface of the desktop is now a drawer pull. Inside, there is ample space to store various items of electronics, accessories, documents, and more. The solid construction and superior weight-bearing ability are added bonuses.
FlexiSpot Standing Desks
FlexiSpot is a popular name in the field of motorized standing desks and they also have a few solutions on offer when it comes to desks with integrated storage solutions.
One of these is the FlexiSpot Comhar, an elegant standing desk with a glass top which comes with an integrated drawer. If you consider the relatively small size of the desk, the drawer actually provides an impressive area for storage that can accommodate much of the regular needs of users.
If you want a little more storage and a classy wooden finish, the FlexiSpot Theodore is an incredibly popular option trusted by many users. The drawer is integrated into the bottom of the desktop plank and comes with two knobs. The space within the drawer is quite deep and can provide a lot of storage. In fact, it can easily store up to two laptops, tablets, accessories like keyboard and mice, and other electronic items.
Other Solutions
A quick and easy way to add more storage to your standing desk is to opt for an aftermarket solution that gives you the requisite storage without falling afoul of the working mechanism of the desk.
One of the best ways to accomplish this is to look into filing cabinets. Mobile filing cabinets can be a great option as they can be moved out of the way when you are bringing the desk to its lowest height.
A lot of manufacturers also sell filing cabinets that can be attached to the underside of the desktop. While these can definitely offer more storage, you have to pay attention to potential clearance issues before opting for such a solution.
Thankfully, many of these products come with wheels for easy movement and are much more stylish than the file cabinets you might remember from your cubicle job in the 90s!
Getting even more niche, you can also find under-desk drawers built specifically for standing desks.
The Issue at Hand
Storage can definitely become an issue if you are looking for motorized standing desks, which usually do not allow a lot of storage to be integrated.
With that said, take a look at the suggestions here and consider your options, and you will certainly be able to find a solution that fits all your storage needs. With a sub-$350 MSRP, the Fezibo model is tough to beat.
In some cases, a creative DIY solution can also come to the rescue.
