I have a spare bedroom which I'm converting to a home office. It's been stripped out and I'm about to start painting it. I'm looking ahead slightly to the next (I think!) step which is fitting a desk system.
I'm a software developer by trade, and I have a lot of PC's. I also need space for electronics and other physical building, space for drawing – I need a lot of desk space in short. On top of this, the room is pretty small 2.5m x 3.5m ish.
I have a plan for this which involves a single desk which runs around 3 walls of the room, with an T shape part in the middle of the longest side:
Potentially subject to some change, I could live without the second seat and turning it into a simpler C shape
I am already under the assumption that a modular desk system would be expensive, and difficult to fit precisely into the space, so my current plan is to use kitchen worktop.
I was intending to use kitchen units to support the ends of the runs / the corners. The shelf space will likely be handy anyway. I was also thinking of using wall brackets to prevent bowing in between.
I know I'm hardly the first person to do this, but I've never tried using worktop as desk before, and I have several questions:
1) Laminate or real wood? I much prefer the appearance of real wood, but is it hard wearing enough to use for this?
2) Height. My kitchen top is noticably higher than my current desk. Is there anything I can do to cut that down if I use kitchen units to hold the corner weight? Can I remove the feet instead of using kickboards?
3) Carpet. Do I carpet the room then put this on top, or fit all this and carpet around the units?
I have many more other questions relating to the task itself, i.e. one of the walls has a radiator on, one of the walls is just a party etc. but I'll save all those for future questions.
Best Answer
To answer your questions in reverse order: 3) Install your floor coverings first. It will go faster and easier if you have no obstacles to work around. You can always cover the new floor with tarps if you need to paint, drywall, etc. in the future. 2) If you need to lower the height of the cabinets ,as you noted, the toe-kick can be sawed off so as to decrease the cabinets height by (+/-) 3 inches. If you need the height lowered further you will have to modify the cabinet carcass (think auto body chopping). 1) Laminate or wood? Completely discretionary. Whatever appeals to you. Laminate will take more abuse and more scratch resistant. Wood, on the other hand, is pure and elemental. Sealed with the right product wood will endure years before it needs to be re-sealed.