Top-Rated Executive Standing Desks
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Defining The ‘Executive Standing Desk”
We’ve reviewed well over a hundred of the best stating desks over the years, but this reviews round-up is dedicated just to the creme of the crop, the very best executive standing desks that exist in the market today.
First, let’s just define what exactly is meant by an “executive desk,” because a lot of furniture manufacturers take liberty with this term. For starters, it’s usually, but not always, a bit larger than the average desk. By design, an executive desk creates an air of professionalism and status. It’s larger size and detailed design touches give a feeling of importance, emphasized by having expansive built-in storage.
In general, an executive standing desk is sought out by those who need ample surface area and ample storage space, two things that the vast majority of standing desks lack. (Having said that, the exception proves the rule: with so many executives living as road warriors with a laptop these days, it can also be a more compact sit-stand desk with a lot of lot of designer panache and some modest built-in storage, such as iMovR’s Baltic birch Captain’s Desk.)
Of course calling a height-adjustable desk an executive desk also implies a bigger price tag, usually starting at around $2,200 for the smallest ones, and going up to as much as $13,300 at the very largest and most luxurious. And so right there is the most immediate distinction from ordinary, less expensive standing desks: executive desks always feature elegant solid wood surfaces.
Sure, we’re used to seeing these desks in corner offices or the “fish bowl” executive suite at the company offices, but increasingly we’re seeing them going into high end home offices, as well. Like donning a bespoke, hand-tailored Savile Row suit, sitting at such a luxurious desk is positively transformative.
We’re not exaggerating when we say that working at a gorgeous desktop boosts your sense of confidence and wellbeing, and subtly changes the way you conduct yourself in meetings or on Zoom calls, and even how you carry yourself throughout the work day.
We’ve felt it ourselves every time we’ve had the pleasure of sitting at one of these executive standing desks, it’s really quite a remarkable sensation. A sensation we can all relate to whenever any of us have had the opportunity to put a tuxedo for a wedding or an amazing evening gown for a charity event.
Whether you’re looking forward towards a more empowered version of yourself in your glass-walled executive suite office, or while working from home in your cashmere PJs with the fireplace crackling in the background, a proper solid wood executive standing desk is going to elevate your mood.
We can say without reservation that we’ve never stood or sat at any other standing desk that has exuded this sort of sensation quite like the Lander Executive Desk does. Of all the executive standing desk reviews link to below, this is probably the one you want to read first if you’re looking for the very best that money can buy.
Relative to the price of lesser standing desks the Lander Executive is going to top the charts. In fact there’s never been another standing desk in this price range outside of iMovR’s own solid wood L-desks and extra-large rectangular desks in the most premiums species selections they offer, which reach the bottom of the Executive Desk’s price range. A new Lander Executive Desk will run you between $5,600 and $13,300 depending on the size and wood species you select.
iMovR dominates the executive desk category, not just with the desks themselves, but also in offering replete options in decor-matching ergonomic accessories and furniture accessories. These options span from 38 exquisite species+stain finishes to desktop-accessed power modules, to an iMovR EMMA electric monitor arm, matching solid wood file cabinets, credenzas, book cases and more. iMovR is constantly adding matching furniture accessory items in their Lander Solid Wood Collection. You can even get a matching Synapse sit-stand conference table in the exact same solid wood finish, if your office is large enough.
It should be noted that while all executive desks are made with real hardwoods, not all solid wood desks meet the full criteria for an executive desk. If you love the idea of working at a solid wood surface but doing have several thousand dollars burning a hole in your pocket, see our separate comprehensive reviews round-up of solid wood standing desks for a much larger array of (more affordable) options.
Low-Budget Executive Desks
As we said above, true executive standing desks will have exceptionally high quality solid wood surfaces, optional or built-in drawers, and generally come in larger sizes. They will also be built on the very best lifting bases, and incorporate all of the most advanced features consumers have come to expect in a high-end standing desk these days. These features include Bluetooth interface and smartphone apps, anti-collision detection, exceptional stability and height adjustment range, and rock solid warranties.
We include for comprehensive coverage some less pricey standing desks, with prices that start below the $2,200 starting price threshold we define above proper executive standing desks, but still worth a look in case your budget can’t reach quite far enough for the best of the best.
Proper Executive Standing Desks
With prices starting at $2,200 and above, these executive standing desks are the Crème de la Crème. While there are some notable exceptions, most of these desks will feature domestic solid wood desktops finished to an heirloom quality, the very latest in lifting base technology, larger sizes including L-shaped desks, built-in storage drawers, advanced cable management options, the convenience of desktop power modules, and very long warranties.
1. Lander Executive Solid Wood Standing Desk
If you’re looking for the most elegant and sophisticated standing desk available in the market today, you’ve found it. But be prepared to pay what it costs for this kind of quality workmanship and materials as this desk is made 100% of solid wood, and the most premium select cuts of wood at that. This is a truly bespoke product, with 6-8 weeks of artisan woodwork labor to produce it. Even the delivery experience is exceptional. The lifting base is the strongest we’ve ever seen on any standing desk at 540 lbs, as it needs to support the weight of three drawers, the full-length concealed electronics cabinet, and all the desktop equipment and drawer contents that an executive user might add to their desk. The full-length concealed electronics cabinet is a major innovation, as is the optional 1800W Executive Power Bus that goes in it. Like test driving a Bentley (which we actually did in preparation for this review), when we got to test out the very first Lander Executive units, we were blown away by all the little touches that make it a true luxury product.
Price: $5,630
2. Best Solid Wood Desks From iMovR, Fully, Uplift and Ergonofis
This round-up of reviews is currently in one long article but is in the process of being broken out into individual reviews for each of these four leading solid wood standing desk manufacturers.
3. iMovR Lander L-Shaped Standing Desk
Literally the most advanced standing desk on the market. Comes 98-percent factory pre-assembled and tested, the impressively-engineered Lander L-desk can be installed by one person in just eight minutes, instead of the usual two-man, 90-minute affair required to assemble all other sit-stand L-desks. All the high-tech features you can expect to find in a premium standing desk, including Bluetooth sync to smartphone app. Literally thousands of customization options in 3D-laminate and solid-wood desktop colors and sizes. Outstanding quality and industry-leading warranty.
Price: $2,148
4. iMovR Lander U-Shaped Standing Desk
Yet another incremental extension of the most advanced standing desk on the market, the iMovR Lander, this 4-legged U-desk comes 90 percent factory pre-assembled and can be installed by one person in just 13 minutes. This is not only much faster than most 2-legged standing desks, it stands in stark contrast to the usual two-hour, two-man installation job a “console” desk like this would ordinarily require. All the tech-forward features you’d expect to find in a premium standing desk, including Bluetooth sync to a smartphone app, are built-in. There are a mind-boggling 15,000 customization options available, yet this is the first “off-the-shelf” product in the category at a fraction of the cost.
Price: $3,270
5. iMovR Captain's Desk
If you’re tired of the typical “two legs and a slab of wood” standing desk design, the Captain’s Desk is a breath of fresh air. Packaging that design with the technological features of the Lander Lite base makes for an exceptional desk. You get the warranty, assembly, stability, height range and quality you would expect from a premium, American-made iMovR desk, plus a stunning design and the strong Baltic or Red River birch desktop.
Price: $2,450
6. James+James Power Adjust Solid Wood Standing Desk
The Knotty Alder Hardwood desktop is handcraft in the USA but is oddly paired with a cheap Chinese-made base that’s dramatically underpowered and slow for this kind of price tag. The single-stage base has a limited height adjustment range and has a short warranty not even mentioned by James+James. The desktop is all right-angles, offering no ergo-contoured edges as you’d expect in a solid wood standing desk priced this high. Six different stains are offered, but James+James is known for customizations, so if you need something other than the two standard sizes or want other modifications you can call them for a quote.
Price: $3,235
7. James+James Solid Wood L-Shaped Standing Desk
The Knotty Alder Hardwood desktop is handcraft in the USA but is oddly paired with a cheap Chinese-made base that’s dramatically underperforming for this kind of price tag. The dual-stage base has a minimal weight rating even though it has three motors. The desktop edging is all right-angles, offering no ergo-contouring as you’d expect in a solid wood standing desk priced this high. Six different stains are offered, but James+James is known for customizations, so if you need something other than the two standard sizes or want other modifications you can call them for a quote.
Price: $4,723
Low-Budget Executive Desks
These are premium-priced desks (with starting prices between $1,100 and $2,200) that feature solid wood desktop surfaces, built-in drawers and other design features that make them stand out from the ordinary “2 legs and a slab of wood.” We include them here even though they don’t technically fit the definition of proper executive standing desks, but they meet some of the criteria. Note that some of the larger desks with more expensive species in the Ergonofis Sway and Lander Lite lines do come in over $2,200.
1. Ergonofis Sway Solid Wood Standing Desk
The bottom line is that the Ergonofis Sway solid wood standing desk is a quality product with one of the best bases money can buy and Canadian-sourced wood that will add a touch of class to any upscale office space. They don’t have a ton of options, opting for a more curated listing typical of many businesses trying to streamline the purchasing process. The desktop quality isn’t quite up to the standard of our favorite American-made standing desks from iMovR, but is better than all the other commodity-grade desks coming out of China. While the price is a bit higher than those more common desks, it is meant for shoppers wanting a superior product, and they will learn that the cost is worth it.
Price: $1,395
2. iMovR Lander Lite Solid Wood Standing Desk
iMovR has managed to take the industry’s No. 1-rated, premium-technology standing desk, the original Lander, keep 90 percent of the technology features and significantly lower the entry price with this new Lander Lite offering. It’s a winner because of features like factory pre-assembly, Bluetooth-enabled height control paddle and smartphone app, built-in health coach, and the choice of over 50 colors of Surf(x) 3D-laminated or solid wood desktops resulting in superior value to consumers.
Price: $900
3. iMovR Ensign's Standing Desk
Perfected ergonomics and designer furniture panache combined? This desk brings it all together like no other we’ve seen because it allows you to pick the configuration that best fits both your sense of style and your ergonomic needs at the same time. The Scandanavian-styled Red River or Baltic birch top, curved edge option and optional Fly Deck monitor stand together to form one of the most beautiful standing desks we’ve seen. Plus, it has the trusty Lander Lite base beneath it. It’s a desk that forces you to make very few compromises.
Price: $1,720
Discontinued Standing Desks
At WorkWhileWalking we’ve been lab testing and writing reviews of ergonomic office furniture and accessories for over a decade. In that time, we have seen many of the products we reviewed fall by the wayside. This is inevitable due to the cycle of continuous improvement, with new models supplanting their predecessors. Of course in some cases products weren’t as competitive as they needed to be, or their manufacturers ran into financial challenges (which very much accelerated as a result of the post-pandemic economy).
For whatever reason, these products now fall into the discontinued category, but we will still keep their reviews published and available to read. Whether you want to know more about the desk, monitor arm, etc. that you bought years ago, need more info because someone is selling one second hand, or just want to compare current offerings with what was available in the past, these reviews will remain here for your reference.
1. Bush Furniture U-Shaped Standing Desk
The Bush Furniture U-Desk has a few positive aspects. With only a single portion of the whole desk that can go from sitting to standing, it’s cheaper than full U-shaped standing desks. Also, the three drawers can be a great storage option. That configuration also makes it seem a little awkward at times. This is beside the issue of lack of information on the website. We would normally expect to see more technical specification, and options in size or color are very lacking.
Price: $2,215.99
2. Fully Jarvis Albright Standing Desk
The minimal design of the Albright solid wood standing desk is certainly attractive. But when you really look at it, Fully could have thought it through a bit more. With two drawers top-side, not attached underneath the desktop, you need to clear the space in front of them if you want them to open up. Another issue is compatibility with monitor arms because they would have to mount on the shelf, which creates some ergonomic problems. The solid wood quality of the woodwork is on par with UpLift’s, but nowhere near the quality of American solid wood tops like iMovR’s. At the end of the day, it’s a decent handcrafted solid wood product on a cheap Chinese-made Jiecang lifting base with an annoying assembly. So, unlike other designer desks that marry high-quality American constructed tops with reliable American-made bases (and better warranties all around), we don’t get the reasoning for this mish-mash.
Price: $2,349
3. Fully Jarvis Evolve Standing Desk
The Evolve falls into several premium categories that occupy the rarified air of designer standing desks. It’s priced at $2,300, so that puts it in the most expensive “executive standing desk” tier. And of course it’s made of solid wood, as is to be expected of any desk in this price tier. And it has not just one, but three drawers. Artisan handcrafted in Michigan, it’s certainly beautiful to look at. That’s the good news. The bad news starts with the fact that the drawers are so thick that you can’t actually bring this desk down to sitting height without crushing your lap. It is strictly a “standing desk,” not a “sit-stand desk,” from an ergonomic point of view. The design also disallows the addition of any ergonomic accessories like monitor arms or keyboard trays, so it’s pretty much a laptop desk. We’ve never understood Fully’s (and some of their other competitors’) choice of pairing an expensive, American-made desktop with a commodity-grade lifting base from China (Jiecang, like on all the Jarvis desks). While Vincent Leman has risen to the top of the field in designer standing desks nowadays, the Evolve was his very first creation. That was quite a few years ago now, and sadly the Evolve lacks any ergonomic sense whatsoever. Like the other Fully solid wood desks, it’s finished to a minimal level to minimize cost, and lacks some things you’d expect at this price tier, like high-quality drawer slides, ergo-contoured edges, more precisely aligned drawers, and at least a full sealing of the bottom of the desk, if not staining.
Price: $2,299
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