For many, a table is a great surface for working: spread out papers, stack and compile materials or work on a laptop. But for longer than a few days, and with more than a few piles (or computer screens) desk innovation comes to the rescue. In this week’s Top Ten list, we check out the brightest of desk designs for every occupation and setting that offer the same focus to our work ethic as a sleek tabletop, but with simple additions to keep our attention day after day.

Top Ten: Revolutionized Desks.

Disciplined Desk Designs for the Home or Office that Maximize Efficiency

1. Deskbox
MANUFACTURER: Arco
PRICE: Available upon request
Dimensions: n/a

Small in size – and poised to open and close like an ultra-functional murphy bed for the working world – the Deskbox is a small table that hangs onto a wall. Use it as a tabletop or fold it out and add a chair for its perfect laptop size.

2. Segreto
DESIGNER: Andre Putman
MANUFACTURER: Poltrona Frau
PRICE: $8,990
Dimensions: 59″W x 23.5″D x 29.5″W

Gorgeous in MDF with a lightly padded and upholstered Pelle Frau® leather, the Segreto desk by Poltrona Frau is a contemporary desk design with unique, pull-out features and openings for cables in its interior. It comes in milk, graphite or burnt colors and has birch reinforcements for added style.

3. Desk
DESIGNER: Studio Morgen
PRICE: Available upon request
Dimensions: 53.1″L x 19.7″W x 29″D

The integrated, oblique openings of the Desk by Studio Morgen create a simple way for extra, hidden storage. Especially wonderful withing interiors that require additional privacy, the 12mm strong phenol coated multi-plex birch plate and edges are fitted together by hand for a high quality finish.

4. Strates
DESIGNER: Mathieu Lehanneur
MANUFACTURER: Objekten
PRICE: Available upon request
Dimensions: n/a

Speaking of side storage, the Strates desk by Mathieu Lehanneur for Objekten is full of layering shelves. Sedimentary rocks come to mind, but so does the idea that every shelf can have its own differentiating stack of papers or materials as if an airy file cabinet is at your fingertips.

5. Lane
DESIGNER: JEHS + LAUB
MANUFACTURER: Renz
PRICE: Available upon request
Dimensions: 28.75′”- 29.5″H

“Clarity and emotionality are not a contradiction,” begins the Renz description of the Lane desk by JEHS + LAUB. “The focus lies on the tabletop, which seems to be formed from a single piece.” With the contrasting color and material use in its combined desk with storage, the Lane is supported by everything a spacious office at home or away could possible want.

6. Tutor
MANUFACTURER: Howe
PRICE: Available upon request
Dimensions: 26.4″W x 28.3″H x 26.1″D

Thirty of these sleek, solid Tutor tables by Howe can be stacked on top of one another and stored, accompanying the matching stackable chairs. For this reason, we all seem to love the simplicity of the Tutor. Developed as a companion to the renowned 40/4 stacking chair by Howe, they work easily for conference set-up and breakdown or in university settings.

7. Magic
DESIGNER: Yomei
PRICE: Available upon request
Dimensions: n/a

A Red Dot Award winner for its fold-up function, the Magic Desk is what Yomei calls “an innovative interpretation of the classic Nelson desk writing table”. With stealthy benefits and an eye for detail, the numerous functions of the square-footage-sensitive Magic desk is sharp and well-designed out of wood and stainless steel.

8. Overdose
DESIGNER: Bram Boo
MANUFACTURER: BULO
PRICE: Available upon request
Dimensions: n/a

“The Overdose desk is a workspace inspired by my own mess together with the concept of making order by disorder,” said Bram Boo of his chunky storage desk for BULO. “I always work on several projects at the same time. I needed a desk into which I could quickly throw something and, above all, quickly retrieve it. It is a dynamic desk that is a joy to work at casually.”

9. Koloro
DESIGNER: Torafu Architects
MANUFACTURER: Ichiro Inc.
PRICE: Available upon request
Dimensions: n/a

Choose the color and the way you’d like to decorate this tiny cube on stilts. Torafu Architects designed the bright little Koloro desk with tiny windows to the world outside alongside plywood manufacturer Ichiro Inc. for those of us who get a kick out of self-expression – and personal space.

10. Deski
DESIGNER: Markus Toivanen
PRICE: Available upon request
Dimensions: 55.1”W x 29.1”H x 31.5”D

Convert your four-seated dining table into a daytime workspace with the Deski by Markus Toivanen. Using Effex, a recycled by-product made by Stora Enso of Pine wood sawdust, the table/desk is designed for small homes that need a single surface for every chore.

Hope you enjoyed our roundup of the Top Ten Revolutionized Desks!

Top Ten articles publish every Tuesday. Email 3rings@designerpages.com if there’s a category you’d like to see.