Small Corner Computer Desk Photos/Drawings?

[John TenEyck]

I have to design/build a small corner computer desk to fit into a space no greater than 48" on each wall. The concept is to have a cabinet on both sides, parallel to the wall, so that the drawers in them can be pulled out w/o hitting the person sitting in front. The front will be cut at 45 deg and needs to have a hidden, undermounted keyboard/mouse slide or tray. Pulling out the keyboard should give enough room so that the user won't hit her legs on the two cabinets. Frame and panel drawer fronts, veneer plywood for most of the rest, and mabe a leather inlaid top on which to sit the laptop and monitor. Anyone built anything like this? If so, pics and drawings would be most appreciated for inspiration, not plageurism. Any ideas, tips or pitfalls to avoid also appreciated. Thanks.

[Jamie Buxton]

IMHO, keyboard trays are a bad idea in a custom desk. They push you back away from the desk, so you have trouble reaching all the other stuff on the desk top -- books, papers, coffee cup, whatever. You have to build them to hold a big keyboard, so they waste space when you use something smaller. They force you to put the keyboard in just one position -- where the tray is. They don't work well with notebook computers. And they often are rickety, bouncing around while you type on them.

A better approach, considering that you're building a custom desk, is to set the desktop height to be the right height with a keyboard or laptop sitting directly on the desk. This fixes all of the problems listed above, and there are no moving parts. I like a desk top about 27" above the floor.

[John TenEyck]

Thanks for the feedback, but the idea behind the keyboard slide or tray is so that the person IS pushed away from the desk, so that there will be enough room for their legs underneath, since the two side cabinets are set at 90 deg. and, therefore, limit the space under the top. The client wants to set their laptop on the top in a docking station and use a separate keyboard on the pullout slide. I used one this way at work for many years and was very happy.