The Uppeal Floor-Sit-Stand desk is the desk I dreamed about back in 2019 when I set up my Japanese-inspired floor desk. I thought about DIYing an adjustable floor-sit-stand desk myself but couldn’t figure out how to make the mechanism work with that kind of range. So I decided to have a floor desk for writing and a separate sit-stand desk for work.

When my friend sent me the link to the Uppeal desk in 2022, I was so excited. We were both skeptical since the desk was preorder only, though I found the Uppeal Kickstarter page and was heartened by the recent updates. They described shipping delays, but everyone had shipping delays back then, so I wasn’t worried about it.

My friend suggested I wait until people started getting their shipments, but I was too excited and placed my order right away with PayPal and a credit card with buyer protection, just in case.

Shipping

Not gonna lie, shipping took a while. I don’t know what the estimate is now from order to delivery, but I preordered mine to be delivered in August 2022 and didn’t get it until mid-February 2023. Some people waited a year or more for their desks, and others canceled their orders. I know how hard it is to get a physical product out the door, so I was patient. Also I really wanted this desk to work.

So I waited.

And waited.

Eventually the shipping label was created, but the desk didn’t actually ship for another month. That was a bit frustrating, and I was suspicious that someone was trying to get away with something, but I let it go.

Once the package actually shipped, it arrived in a standard amount of time on a Friday. A typed note was in the box thanking me for my patience, on which someone had hand written my name and the founder’s signature. I thought that was a nice touch.

Getting the box in my apartment was a struggle. It was heavy AF. Normally I drag or push heavy things over the threshold, but this was so heavy that it wouldn’t slide over the bump without being lifted.

Unfortunately, my desktop did not arrive until the following Tuesday, so it was a bit of a bummer that I couldn’t get set up right away.

Both the boxes that the desktop and the legs shipped in were completely beat up when they arrived. The legs were fine I think (more on this below), but the desktop had a bit of damage.

Customer support

I had a great experience with customer support. Each time I followed up about my purchase, Greg from Uppeal responded quickly and was super friendly. He didn’t always have the answers, but I always got a response.

He offered to file a claim with UPS to get some money back for the damage, but he also said one of his desks at the warehouse has similar damage, and it hasn’t worsened or affected performance, so I said it was ok to leave it be. The worst of the damage is facing a wall, so it doesn’t bother me day to day. Although I do touch it when I want to fidget at my desk. Not sure why.

Assembly

The instructions said to assemble with 2 people, but as usual, I ignored that. The instruction manual was a little intimidating, but I was too impatient and excited to use the new desk.

The legs are super heavy, and putting this together involved a lot of kneeling and crouching and hunching over. I was legit sore the following day!

But somehow I managed to put the legs together and even get the assembled legs on top of the desktop without scratching anything. I definitely would follow the instructions and assemble this with 2 people.

Putting the legs together took about 50 minutes. I had to stop after I took the picture above because I apparently don’t know how to work the drill and couldn’t get the screws into the desktop. I didn’t want to crack the wood, so I decided to wait for my husband instead of forcing it. I also wanted my husband to handle the cable management for the motor, and I’m glad I waited. Look what a beautiful job he did!

It would definitely not have looked this nice if I had done it. I don’t know if you see in that photo, but a couple of the hooks for the cables immediately detached from the desk. If you have cable management you prefer, I’d use those instead; the adhesive on the provided hooks was pretty weak. They seemed to have more difficulty with the metal versus the wood, though, so you could route your cables accordingly. They help up better than expected in last year’s hot California summer when adhesives in our apartment start melting away.

I forgot to keep time of when we started working on the desk again, but I think total assembly took less than 3 hours total including cable management. That may have been faster with 2 people to assemble the legs, but I don’t think it would have been 15 minutes like the website says.

Setup

The manual warns users in several places that the desk needs enough clearance above, below, and around it to operate properly. Anything taller than 13″ can’t go under the desk or it’ll cause a problem when the desk is lowered to floor height.

I was already prepared for this and had nothing under or above my desk. But even so, getting the desk in position was a bit of a challenge even with 2 people. I wanted it in the corner, but the manual warns against dragging it. That makes sense since the legs are so heavy; I wouldn’t be surprised if lifting it by the table top would rip the screws right out. I’ll admit I was a bit abusive with my previous desk and dragged it all over the place, but I didn’t want to do that with my Uppeal desk. It’s heavier, more expensive, and I want it to last a long time.

My husband planned ahead and mounted a couple cable management boxes and my surge protecter to the desk. Rather than drill extra holes, we used our favorite Command Strips to attach them. These are secure and hold for a long time to most surfaces.

What I’d do-over

The desktop I bought from Uppeal has convenient, pre-drilled holes for the legs, motor, and interface. If I were to do this over again, I would install the motor somewhere other than centered near the back edge of the desk. I have a monitor and laptop holder clamp-mounted to my desk. Because of the motor box, I had to clamp the mount off center on the desk. That’s fine for me because I sit in front of my monitor and have the laptop off to the side. If you want your mount clamped exactly in the middle of your desk, consider mounting the motor to the side or more inwards instead of centered at the back edge.

Initial impressions of the Uppeal desk

It’s been nearly a full year since I started using this desk, and it has been fantastic.

Quality

I don’t have a lot to compare this desk to since I’ve only owned one other desk that was not particle board, and I’d say on the desk spectrum it would still be considered entry-level since it was fixed height and less than $500. But I really like the bamboo desktop, even though it sadly has shipping damage on the corners. The damage isn’t bad enough to make it worth returning or asking for a replacement. Luckily, the corner that has the most damage is facing the wall and I can’t see it.

The legs are solid. They are made of metal, super heavy, and just overall feel like good quality. I really only have one complaint about the quality: The keypad looks and feels like cheap plastic. It does what it’s supposed to and is programmable. It looks ok, I guess, if you’re not touching it. It’s a minor thing.

I had two other complaints when I first got the desk. The motor was smooth and quick when adjusting upwards, but when I lowered the desk from any height, the left side shuddered. The right side didn’t do this, so I wondered if it was damaged during shipping. It didn’t have any physical damage on the outside, but maybe the internal mechanism got shaken up.

My other complaint was that you have to hold the button down the entire time to get it to the desired height. It’ll stop at the right spot automatically, but it’s not as luxurious as being able to tap it once then go refill your drink.

The good news is, I emailed the company about the shuddering legs and they provided replacement legs for free. The replacements are an upgraded version; they work perfectly and adjusting the height is a single button press. Yay!

Adjustability

When I ordered this desk, I wasn’t excited just to sit on the floor — I was also excited to finally adjust my desk to the proper height for sitting for my body. Every desk I’ve ever had has been too tall for me. Even sit-stand desks that allow adjustment were too tall for me at their lowest setting, usually around 29″. That meant my chair had to be too high to be at the proper position for the desk, which meant I needed a high foot rest to prevent the seat from cutting into my legs.

It was a whole thing.

My desks have never very comfortable no matter what I tried, and I’m sure it contributed to my sciatica and other aches and pains I’ve developed over the years.

The beauty of Uppeal is that I can finally set my desk low enough that I can rest my feet flat on the carpet. Even if I never use the floor position, the desk is worth it to finally be comfortable in a seated position at my desk. Maybe it doesn’t sound like a big deal for people who fit regular desks, but this made a huge difference in my comfort. My Uppeal desk is set 22.2″ from the carpet — that’s nearly 7″ lower than standard desk height!

The keypad has 4 buttons users can program to the most frequently used positions. I used one for floor, sit, stand, and the fourth is for an in-between height that I use to write in my journal.

Setting the position in the Uppeal desk memory is easy: Position the desk to the height you want, then tap the desired number button 4 times in a row. It’ll make a noise, and then you can use that going forward for that height.

Floor height

I knew floor height was going to be too tall for me because even in the product photography, the model was sitting on a thick floor cushion and still had her arms at an un-ergonomic angle (see photo below).

Because this looked similar to the position I had my arms at my floor desk, I knew I would need a cushion to get me to the right height.

The lowest the desk can get is about 16.25″ measured from a carpeted floor to the top of the desk. This is actually a nice amount of leg room when you’re sitting on the floor, but if the monitor is at the right height for typing while seated, it’s too high for me if I’m on the floor. So I’m still figuring this part out.

In closing

This desk is awesome! It doesn’t have the bells and whistles of some other desks I’ve seen. My husband’s desk has built-in cable management and a metal top so he can use magnets to mount stuff to it, but I’d take the Uppeal desk over any other desk every time. Nothing beats being able to have the desk at the proper height for me, and if anything happened to it, I would replace it in a heartbeat.