Can one table be both your dining table and your desk?
Summary
Yes, if you work on a laptop and can live with clearing it off before dinner. Table height is not what separates a desk from a dining table; the ADA range for both is the same. The trouble starts with a monitor you want to leave set up, and with an apron or drawer under the top that hits your legs after a few hours.
Height is the same number
The ADA standards set dining surfaces and work surfaces at the same height: 28 to 34 inches above the floor. IKEA's NORDEN gateleg table is 29 1/8 inches tall and the ÅLHULT extendable table is 29 1/2, so both sit inside it.
What differs is what is underneath. OSHA's computer workstation guidance puts leg clearance under a desk at roughly 20 to 28 inches high. A table with a deep apron is fine for a meal and uncomfortable for a workday.
A monitor needs depth, and a place to stay
OSHA puts the screen 20 to 40 inches from your eyes and says to keep it at least 20 inches away. On a table 31 1/2 inches deep, a keyboard still fits in front of a monitor pushed back that far. The question is whether the monitor can stay there through dinner.
The NORDEN is a neat answer to that. Its dimensions from IKEA's page:
| NORDEN | Length | Width |
|---|---|---|
| Both leaves down | 10 1/4 in | 31 1/2 in |
| One leaf up | 35 in | 31 1/2 in |
| Both leaves up | 59 7/8 in | 31 1/2 in |
With one leaf up you have a desk 35 by 31 1/2 inches. At dinner the other leaf comes up and the monitor never moves. IKEA rates it for 2 to 4 people. It ships in two boxes of about 52 pounds each, which matters if you live up a flight of stairs.
When guests are the reason
The ÅLHULT is 47 1/4 by 31 1/2 inches closed and 66 7/8 inches long with its leaf in, seating 4 to 6 by IKEA's count. Used as a desk most days, it only needs the extra 19 5/8 inches of floor on the nights people come over. The catch is that the floor has to be free when you do.
Sources
- U.S. Access Board: Guide to the ADA Standards, Chapter 9 (902)
- OSHA: Computer Workstations eTool: Desks
- OSHA: Computer Workstations eTool: Monitors
- IKEA: NORDEN gateleg table
- IKEA: ÅLHULT extendable table