Two-person and double standing desk setups

Why one wide desk disappoints

If two people of different heights share one surface, at least one of them is working at the wrong height whenever the desk moves. In practice the desk stops moving at all, and you have bought an expensive fixed desk.

There is also a practical problem: raise a very wide top with unequal weight at each end and you are asking the frame to handle a lopsided load all day.

The layouts that work

• 01Side by side: two 120×60 or 140×70 desks against the same wall. Each person sets their own height and presets, and the desks look like one run of furniture.
• 02Back to back: two desks facing each other, sharing a cable route down the middle. Good for small offices and for keeping screens out of each other's video calls.
• 03L-shape in a corner: two desks at right angles. One person per leg, and the corner takes the printer.

Sizing two desks into one room

Measure the wall and subtract about 10 cm at each end and 10 cm between the desks. Two 120 cm desks need roughly 2.6 m of wall; two 140 cm desks need about 3 m.

If the room will not take that, one 160×80 desk with agreed heights is a compromise — but agree in advance that it will spend most of its life at one person's setting.

Presets and cables

Each frame has four memory presets, so two people sharing one desk can still have a sitting and a standing height each. Label them if you must.

Cables are the part people underestimate with two desks. Two moving surfaces means two independent cable runs — a spine on each desk keeps them separate and stops one desk dragging the other's power lead.

Buying for two

Two desks means two of everything, which is where our business pricing starts: volume discounts begin at five desks, but for a pair the practical saving is collecting from our Peterborough warehouse if you are nearby.

Cable planning for two desks

Two moving desks in one room is where cables get interesting. Each desk needs its own independent run to a socket, because a shared extension between two desks that move separately will eventually be pulled tight.

Give each desk its own extension block mounted on the frame or in an under-desk tray, so only one lead per desk travels to the wall. A cable spine on each keeps that single run tidy through the full height range.

Sound, screens and sightlines

Two people on calls in one room is the practical problem nobody plans for. Back-to-back layouts keep each person out of the other's camera and put a screen between you, which helps more than it sounds.

Side by side is friendlier and better for shared work, but you will hear each other. If both of you take a lot of calls, back to back with a bookcase behind each screen is the arrangement that survives longest.

Buying two at once

Two desks is two of everything: two frames, two tops, two sets of cable management. Volume pricing starts at five, so a pair is charged at normal retail — but collection from Peterborough saves £50 per complete desk if you are within reach.

If the two desks are for two different people, let each choose their own size and finish. The frames are identical inside, so mixing a 120 and a 140, or a white and a black, costs nothing extra.

Sizing two desks into a spare room

A typical UK box room is around 2.6–3 m along its longest wall, which is exactly the point where two desks either fit or do not.

Remember to leave 70–80 cm of clear floor behind each desk for the chair and for standing.

Two people, four presets

If you genuinely must share one desk, use the four memory slots as two pairs: person one's sitting and standing on M and 1, person two's on 2 and 3. Write it on a piece of tape under the desk for the first fortnight.

It works, but be realistic about the friction. Every switch means the other person's screen, chair and keyboard are now at the wrong height too, which is why two desks almost always wins in practice.

Questions, answered.