Answers to the 24 things most people ask.

You configure your order, enter your delivery details, and click Reserve my order. No card details are collected.

Within one working day we email to confirm stock, your expected dispatch window, and a payment link. You pay only when we're about to ship — usually 1—2 days before dispatch.

If you change your mind at any point before payment, nothing happens. No card to refund, no "cancellation fee". You just reply to the email.

No. Everything runs on your order email — we don't have user accounts, there's nothing to log into. Your order reference (format DSK-XXXXXX) plus your email is all you need for warranty, returns, and reorders.

Yes, until we send your dispatch email. Reply to your confirmation email with the change — swap a chair tier, change a desk size, add or remove peripherals, update the delivery address. We'll resend the confirmation with new totals.

Once the dispatch email is sent (usually 1 working day before delivery), the order is locked and changes become a return.

Yes — for orders of 3+ chairs or 2+ desks. Discount scales: 8% off for 3—5 items, 12% off for 6—10, 15% for 11+. Email trade@deskrove.co.uk with the setup you need and we'll quote within one working day.

VAT invoice provided. We can split delivery across multiple addresses at no extra cost.

No. We're UK-only for now — mainland England, Scotland, Wales, and Northern Ireland. We don't ship to the Republic of Ireland, Channel Islands, or continental Europe.

We're not keeping a "notify me" list for EU expansion — we'd rather not collect emails we might never use. Follow us on Instagram if you'd like to know when we open international.

Oak Series — solid kiln-dried white oak, real wood grain top to bottom, finished with water-based lacquer. Built at our Sheffield workshop. 10-year warranty. Ages into a patina over the years. £549—£619.

Core Series — 18mm particleboard core with melamine laminate face, steel frame, cable tray included. Built at a partner factory in Poland. 5-year warranty. Looks good, stays consistent, about 40% the price. £249—£289.

Both are flat-pack, both take ~20 minutes to assemble, both come with the same peripheral bundle options. Pick Oak for longevity and feel; pick Core for value and consistency.

Core Series — in stock, ships within 2 working days of payment, delivered in 2—4 working days. So around 4—6 working days from reservation to arrival.

Oak Series — built to order. 5—8 working days build time, then 2—4 days delivery. So around 7—12 working days from reservation. We confirm a specific week in the confirmation email.

See the full table on the Shipping page.

We offer three standard sizes (140, 160, 180 cm for Oak; 120, 140, 160 cm for Core) because sticking to these keeps build time and cost sensible. If you need a truly custom size, email hello@deskrove.co.uk — we can quote for bespoke Oak (not Core), minimum £750, 6—8 week lead time.

Most people want "as big as possible" — a 180cm Oak desk fits in most UK rooms and is the right size for two monitors plus peripherals.

No — flat-packed. Reasons: flat-pack desks fit through doorways and up staircases, which means we can deliver free; they ship in fewer, smaller boxes (lower CO2 per unit); and honestly, a 180cm solid oak top pre-assembled is a two-person nightmare to get into a third-floor flat.

Assembly is 4—6 bolts, takes ~20 minutes, tools included. If you'd genuinely rather not, we partner with Fixr for installation (£35—55 depending on location) — mention it in delivery notes at checkout.

Oak Series — 80 kg distributed load. That's enough for two 32" monitors, a full speaker setup, a desktop PC tower, and then some.

Core Series — 60 kg distributed load. Two monitors, laptop, peripherals — no issue. Avoid mounting a heavy monitor arm on the Core's back edge; centre-mount or desktop-stand instead.

Neither desk is designed to be stood or sat on. Please.

Quick guide:

• Basic (£249) — fine for 4—6 hours a day of mixed use. Solid mesh, gas lift, tilt. Students, part-time home-workers, second chairs.
• Pro (£449) — the sweet spot. Adjustable lumbar, 3D armrests, forward-tilt, aluminium base. Rated for 12 hours/day. Most people pick this.
• Elite (£799) — if you sit all day every day, or you've had back pain, or you want something that'll outlast three IKEA Markus chairs. Full adjustment, seat depth slide, foam seat option, 24-hour rated.

Cross-reference: Basic is roughly "better than a £200 Ikea Markus"; Pro is "90% of a Herman Miller Sayl at 45% of the price"; Elite is "close to Aeron / Embody feel, 55% of the price". Not identical — they're Herman Miller — but close.

Not in a showroom (we don't have one yet). But you have 30 days to return any chair for a full refund — sit in it, work in it, return it with nothing more than an email if it's not right. Free collection if you're within 50 miles of Sheffield; £45 otherwise for bulky return.

If you're in Sheffield, you can visit the workshop — email hello@deskrove.co.uk to book.

Basic — 110 kg. Pro — 130 kg. Elite — 150 kg. These are BIFMA-tested limits with a 1.5× safety factor — the actual fail point is higher, but warranty applies at the stated limit.

If you're close to the limit, go up a tier — not for the weight rating, but because the heavier-duty gas strut and base last noticeably longer.

Yes — that's the point. Mesh breathes where foam doesn't. On the Elite you can spec a foam seat with mesh back if you want the cushion feel under your thighs but the breathability against your back; adds £60. Pro and Basic are mesh-only.

Elite mesh is denser (medium-firm feel); Pro mesh is a touch softer; Basic mesh is the stiffest of the three — still comfortable, just less contouring.

Basic — fixed lumbar curve built into the mesh. You sit back, it supports you.

Pro — height-adjustable lumbar pad (6cm of travel) on a spring-loaded slider. You push it up or down to match your lower back.

Elite — 4-way adjustable lumbar (up, down, forward, back — 6cm vertical, 4cm horizontal). Tuned with micro-notches so it stays where you set it.

All three support the natural lumbar curve — the Elite just lets you fine-tune for body shape more precisely. If you've never used a proper chair, the Pro's range covers 90% of bodies well.

Because nobody needs to compare 400 keyboards. We've picked three keyboards (Keychron / Lofree / Nuphy — mechanical, wireless, quiet-option), three mice (Logitech MX Master / MX Anywhere / Lift vertical), three lamps (BenQ ScreenBar / WiT / Dyson Lightcycle), and three headphones (Sony WH-1000XM5 / Bose QC Ultra / Apple AirPods Max).

Each one is what we'd actually buy with our own money. If a better option comes out, we swap it. If you want something we don't carry, buy it direct — we're not offended.

Yes:

• Desk + chair together — £50 off. Automatic at checkout.
• 2+ peripherals — 5% off the peripherals. Automatic at checkout.

Both can stack. A full setup (Oak 160 + Pro chair + keyboard + mouse) saves £50 on the pair plus ~£15 on the peripherals — roughly £65 total, one delivery, one cart.

Yes — 30-day window, each item independent. Keep a peripheral you like, return the ones you don't. If returning a peripheral breaks the 2+ bundle, we adjust the refund to reflect the removed discount (no retroactive penalty — you just don't keep the bundle rate on a single item).

Peripheral returns are free — we send a prepaid Royal Mail label.

Yes — for desks and chairs, the 2-person team carries the box to the room of your choice as long as it's ground floor or up to one flight of stairs. Higher floors (flats above a second floor without a lift) may need an upgrade — £25 flat fee, add it in checkout notes.

They don't unbox or assemble by default — that keeps the delivery free. Fixr assembly is an option, see Desks section.

First miss is free — the carrier leaves a card and attempts redelivery the next working day. Second miss, it goes to the local depot and you book a collection slot via the carrier's app. Third miss, the item returns to us and we refund minus a £25 return-shipping fee for bulky items (no fee for peripherals).

Best prevention: delivery notes at checkout — porch, neighbour, secure shed. Note that desks and chairs require a signature, so "leave with neighbour" is fine, but "leave in porch" isn't.

Not by default — standard delivery is Monday to Friday, 9am to 5pm, with a 2-hour window texted on the day. Saturday delivery is available for £18 additional, Sunday for £28 — both only via DPD (peripherals) or DX Premium (desks/chairs). Add it in delivery notes.

Two co-founders — James Reddin (eight years at Made.com on home office; last role was product lead for desks) and Anya Petrosyan (six years at Herman Miller on the Embody and Aeron refresh, physio by training). Plus five full-time team in the Sheffield workshop.

Full story on the About page.

Two reasons: (1) Anya's from Sheffield and already had workshop contacts from her NHS physio years, and (2) Sheffield Forgemasters and the wider steel cluster mean we can source our steel frames locally — ours comes from Outokumpu Sheffield, four miles from the workshop.

Bonus reason: the Peaks are a 20-minute drive. Good for thinking.

Honest cross-reference:

• Herman Miller — the chairs we most admire, but they sell one category (seating) at ~2× our price for equivalent ergonomics. Our Elite sits in a similar performance bracket for ~55% the price, because we don't carry brand premium.
• Fully (Jarvis) — standing desks, US-origin, long lead times to UK. We don't currently do standing — our Oak Series is fixed-height. If you need adjustable, buy a Jarvis. We'll have a sit-stand option in 2027.
• Made.com — where James used to work. Style-led, broad catalogue, fast-fashion-ish. We're narrower, more ergonomic-led, more repairable. Less choice of colour, more honest about how long things last.

If you want showroom floors and bespoke fabric options — Herman Miller. If you want a sit-stand — Fully. If you want the complete workspace from one place, built in the UK, with honest numbers — us.