How to make a desk taller

Raising a desk is easy; keeping it stable while you do is the part people skip. The right method depends on how much height you need and how much you are willing to trade for it.

By Stephen V.Last reviewed July 31, 2026

A desk that is too low is one of the most common ergonomic complaints, and also one of the most fixable — you do not need a new desk, you need a few more inches. The catch is that raising a desk is only half the job. Adding height also adds leverage, and a desk made taller without thought for stability trades a sore neck for a rocking surface. This page walks the four practical ways to raise a desk, how to decide how high to go before you buy anything, and the stability trade each method carries so the desk that comes out taller also stays steady.

Start with the target, not the tool. It is tempting to grab a set of risers and see what happens, but the right method depends entirely on how much height you need — and you cannot know that until you have measured to your own elbows.

First, find the height you are aiming for

The correct desk height is set by your body, specifically your elbows. Sit in your chair with your shoulders relaxed and your upper arms hanging naturally, forearms roughly parallel to the floor. The desk surface should meet your hands right where your elbows rest at about a right angle, so your wrists stay straight rather than bending up to reach the top. Measure the gap between where the surface is now and where it should be — that number is what every method below has to deliver. The same elbow logic sets a standing surface, which is why the reference reasoning in how high should a standing desk be is worth reading even if you only ever sit; it is the anchor for both heights.

Knowing the gap tells you which approach fits. A small lift — an inch or two — opens up cheap, low-risk options like bun feet or short risers. A larger jump narrows the field toward new legs or a purpose-built adjustable frame, because stacking a lot of height onto the original legs is where stability starts to suffer.

Method 1: desk leg risers and extenders

Risers — also sold as leg extenders or lifts — are the most direct answer: they sit under or around each leg and lift the whole desk uniformly. They come as stacking blocks, cups that a round or square leg drops into, and threaded extenders that screw into or onto the existing foot. The good ones share three traits: a base wider than the leg for a stable footprint, a snug fit so the leg cannot shift inside them, and a non-slip contact surface top and bottom so nothing creeps.

The trade-off is leverage. Every riser introduces a fresh joint between the leg and the floor, and the taller it is, the longer the lever a sideways push has to work with — the same reason a raised standing desk wobbles more than a lowered one. Short, wide, snug risers barely register; tall, narrow, loose ones can turn a rock-solid desk into a rocking one. Fit all four so the desk sits level, then press on opposite corners to check it does not rock before you trust it with a monitor.

Method 2: bun feet and furniture feet

For a genuinely small lift — an inch or two — adding feet is often the neatest fix, particularly on a desk with a solid apron or a flat underside you can screw into. Bun feet, tapered furniture feet, and similar hardware bolt to the underside and raise the whole piece a fixed amount. They look intentional rather than improvised, and because they are usually short and wide they add little leverage.

The limitation is range: feet give you a modest, fixed amount and no more, and they need something solid to screw into. That last point matters on engineered-board desks, where how well the screws hold depends on the core — a distinction covered in MDF vs particleboard desk tops. Into dense MDF or solid wood, feet anchor firmly; into loose particleboard near an edge, the screws can strip. If the underside is thin or chippy, use the widest mounting plate the feet allow to spread the load.

Method 3: a riser or converter on top

If the real goal is to stand part of the day rather than to make the seated surface permanently higher, do not raise the legs at all — put a converter on top. A sit-stand converter lifts your keyboard and monitor up and back down while the desk itself never moves, so it adds zero wobble to the base and needs no tools. It is the right tool when you want your hands and eyes higher some of the time and the desk surface unchanged the rest. When you want the whole surface higher all the time, it is the wrong tool — it raises your gear, not the desk. We compare the options in the best standing desk converters.

Method 4: replace the legs

For a large or permanent height change, new legs are the honest answer. Many desks are a top on separate legs, and swapping in taller fixed legs, or a set of height-adjustable ones, raises the surface without stacking a tower of risers under the originals. Adjustable legs go a step further and let you dial the height to your elbows exactly, and re-dial it if your chair changes. This is more work and more cost than risers, but it keeps the load path clean — the weight runs straight down one continuous leg instead of through a stacked joint — which is why it stays steadier at greater heights. If you find yourself needing several inches, this is usually the method that ends up both sturdier and better looking than the cheaper options pushed past their comfortable range.

The one approach to avoid: improvising it

The tempting shortcut is to prop the desk up on whatever is to hand — a stack of books under each leg, offcuts of wood, bricks, a pair of paint cans. It works for about a day, and it is the setup most likely to fail at the worst moment. Loose, mismatched props are not fixed to the leg or to the floor, so the desk can walk, tip, or drop as you lean on it, and unlike a wobble you can tighten out, there is no joint to snug because there is no real joint at all. A desk carrying a monitor and your forearms is holding more than it looks, and it is directly in front of your face and hands.

If a raise has to be temporary or improvised, keep it low, keep the base wide, and make sure whatever the leg sits on is stable, level, and cannot slide — a single flat, non-slip block under each leg beats a teetering stack every time. But treat that as a stopgap. Any of the four proper methods above costs little and fixes the height without asking you to trust a pile of books, which is the whole reason they exist.

Do not raise the desk in isolation

Whichever method you choose, remember the desk does not move alone. Raise the surface and your monitor rises with it, so re-check that the top of the screen still sits at or just below eye level; a desk raised to fix your wrists that leaves you craning up at the monitor has traded one problem for another. Your seat has to keep up too — feet flat on the floor or a footrest, forearms level — because the whole setup only works when the elbow, the wrist, and the eyeline all land right together. Get the target from your elbows, pick the method that fits the gap, check it does not rock, then re-set the screen and chair around the new height. That sequence is what turns “taller” into “comfortable and still steady in three years,” rather than just higher.

Common questions

What is the right height to raise my desk to?

Set it by your elbows, not by a number off a chart. Sitting with your shoulders relaxed and forearms roughly parallel to the floor, the desk should meet your hands where your elbows sit at about a right angle. The seated target follows the same elbow logic the standing one does — the reference height reasoning in how high should a standing desk be is the anchor for both. Measure to that, then raise the desk to it, rather than picking a riser height first and hoping.

Do desk leg risers make the desk wobbly?

They can, and that is the main thing to watch. Every riser adds a new joint between the leg and the floor, and the taller the riser, the longer the lever any side-to-side push acts on. Good risers with a wide base, a tight fit, and non-slip contact stay solid; cheap, tall, loosely fitted ones can turn a steady desk into a rocking one. If it moves after fitting them, treat it like any other wobble problem — check every joint and the floor contact first.

How much taller can I safely make a desk?

A modest lift — an inch or two — is low-risk with almost any method. Beyond a few inches, the stability trade grows fast: taller risers mean a longer lever and more chance of rocking, and at some point new, longer legs or a purpose-built adjustable frame is the sounder answer than stacking height onto the original legs. There is no universal safe maximum — a wide, heavy desk tolerates more than a light, narrow one — so judge it by how steady it stays, not by a fixed figure.

Should I just use a desktop riser instead?

If your goal is to stand sometimes rather than to raise the seated surface permanently, a desktop converter is often the better answer: it lifts your keyboard and screen without touching the desk’s legs at all, so it adds no wobble to the base. Compare them in the best standing desk converters. Raise the legs when you need the whole surface higher; add a converter when you only need your hands and eyes higher part of the day.

Will raising the desk affect my monitor and chair?

Yes — the whole setup moves together. Raise the desk and your screen goes up with it, so re-check that the top of the monitor still sits at or just below eye level, and that your chair or a footrest still lets your feet rest flat with your forearms level. Raising the desk without re-checking the screen height and the chair usually trades one bad position for another.