The Search for Under-Desk Storage Drawers

Since not all desks come with drawers — or you may be using a table as your desk — you may be looking for storage units you can put under that desk. And, like some of my clients, you may want a storage unit that has four or more shallow drawers to hold various supplies, rather than the more customary one or two supply drawers and a file drawer.

Space2 in the U.K. has this four-drawer mobile pedestal shown above; it's 67 cm (26.4 inches) tall. Update on April 11, 2014: It seems Space2 has gone out of business; its website says it is "no longer trading."




AJ Products in Ireland (whose parent company is AJ Produkter AB) has this mobile pedestal, available in three finishes; it's 550 mm (21.7 inches) tall. AJ Produkter sells throughout much of Europe.




Wellemöbel, a German company, is another source for mobile pedestals. This one is 55.5 cm (21.8 inches) tall.




And Endo, in Australia, has this mobile pedestal, which comes in 16 different finishes. It's 675 mm (26.6 inches) tall.

These are just some of the under-desk pedestals I found around the world. But when I tried to find the same thing in the U.S., it became much harder. There's a similar product available from Herman Miller, but at a price higher than you might prefer.




So what are your other options? You could go with the Bisley multidrawer cabinets; Bisley has dealers in many parts of the world. These steel cabinets are 670 mm (26.5 inches) tall, and come in seven configurations — ranging from five drawers to 20 drawers. Unlike many of the other options listed here, this one's not designed to be mobile. Update: Bisley let me know that there is indeed a castor base option for this product — so it CAN be mobile!




Or you could go with mesh products, like this mesh cart from Safco; it's available through Amazon.com and many other sites. It's 27 inches tall.




And The Container Store has Elfa desk drawers; they're 29 inches tall.




If you don't want either steel or mesh, you could consider this drawer cart from Alkali Scientific; it's 27 1/8 inches tall.




And then there's Ikea, where you can get the Alex drawer unit. It's 26 inches tall.




Finally, for something different and fun, there's the Boby trolley storage unit from the Italian company B-line — but available from many sources in the U.S., including Gibraltar Furniture and Nova68. It comes in a number of colors and drawer configurations. However, it's 74 cm (29.13 inches) tall — the tallest one listed here, and a bit too tall to fit under some desks.