The Desk Hutch: Why You DON’T Want One in Your Home Office

Desk hutch as a waste of valuable desktop real estateThe “desk hutch” is something you will find in many home office catalogues and online decorating sites and blogs. I am here to tell you that they are a waste of valuable desktop real estate.

In the last The Smarter Home Office post we talked about the need for a large work surface on you desk.  If you have or get a good size desk, then why clutter it up with a desk hutch?  This is pre-typewriter, let alone pre-technology. They are a remnant of the office clerk’s desk when business correspondence was hand written and the few in- and out-going letters were filed in little cubby holes.

The intention of a desk hutch is good, but the vast majority of them are too shallow to store papers or supplies. They become clutter magnets; junk depositories.

If you are thinking of buying a desk with a “hutch” – don’t. If you have a desk with a hutch – please unbolt it from your desktop and discover how much more truly functional space you now have.

Do you have a “desk hutch?” How does it work for you? If you had a “desk hutch” and got rid of it, how did it affect your work flow?

Learn more about desk set up in The Smarter Home Office – the book.

Comments

  1. Amen. I had a lovely oak desk with a hutch that I thought would look great in my living room, but it ended up being a cluttered mess. Having the heavy hutch overhead also made me feel claustrophobic, too. Now I have a long flat surface to work at.

  2. Barbara – Thanks for your comment. Yes, desk hutches can make a workspace feel claustrophobic. I am happy you got ride of the hutch, liberated yourself and now have a large open surface to work on. Simple changes can make a big difference.