Welcome to Office Furniture 101.  We are going to embark on another lesson.  Many in the office furniture profession have created their own vernacular and the public at large is clueless to what most of the terminology means.  So, I felt it wise to start with defining office furniture terminology in the realm of the desk. So, bookmark the page if you are in the process of shopping for office furniture and you want to be able to come back for a complete understand what exactly you are buying.  As always, please consider shopping at Smart Buy Office Furniture as well.  We can be found on the web at http://www.smartbuydesk.com.

OFFICE FURNITURE TERMINOLOGY

By: Tom Doane

Work Surface=much like it sounds it is any area of office furniture where the user can utilize to work from and write on, file, sort, stack, etc. Desk height is referred to as 29″ and typing height is often referred to as 27″ high work surfaces.

Pedestal= AKA “Ped” in the abbreviated form.  It is a stack of drawers that goes underneath a desk.

Pedestal Example

Full Pedestal/Full Height Pedestal= a stack of drawers that goes all the way from under the desk surface to the floor.  Full pedestal as in it extends fully to the floor. (shown above is a full BBF Pedestal)

BBF Pedestal=A form of full pedestal.  It also is known as a B/B/F Pedestal or a Box Box File Pedestal, this is a full height pedestal that possesses two box drawers on the top, and one file drawer on the bottom of the drawer stack. (shown above is a full BBF Pedestal)

FF Pedestal= This is a full height pedestal comprised of two file drawers (the larger drawers).  It also goes by the delineation of F/F Ped

File/File Ped Example

3/4 Pedestal/Hanging Pedestal=This is a stack of drawers that doesn’t extend fully to the floor.  It is almost always a single box drawer and a file drawer.

3/4 (hanging) Ped Example

Box Drawer= This is the little smaller drawer typically found at the top of a pedestal.  It is called a box drawer because it was designed to store boxes of paper, staples, paper clips, rubber bands, and other office supplies.

File Drawer= This is the larger drawer in a pedestal.  It is usually the bottom drawer.  Normally, they are designed to file letter size documents front to back and legal document side to side.  The user selects which kind of document they’d like to store.

Center Drawer/Pencil Drawer= This is the lap drawer that is fairly narrow and is used typically to store pencils, pens, legal and letter paper pads, staplers, scissors, paper clips, and other work tools stored in small quantities but for quick retrieval.  There is one variation of this and that is a “Pencil Drawer” can also mean a slender drawer at the top of a ped.  This would be even more slender than the typical box drawer.  However, 9 out of 10 times a pencil drawer is being referred to as a lap/center drawer.

Central Locking=When the user can lock all of the drawers of his desk with one drawer.  Typically it is where a user will push in his center drawer to it’s fullest extent and then lock it.  This engages an elaborate locking system that will lock all of the drawers on the left and the right hand side.

Dictation Slide=typically only found on traditional style desks, this is a board that pulls out from above the top box drawer on a pedestal that the user can write from.  In it’s purist form, however, it used to be a board that would slide out from the approach side (side that guests sit on opposite of user) of the desk so that the secretary could take dictation.

End Panel= These are the panels to the left or right of the desk, return, or credenza that make up the right side legs or the left side legs.  It will stretch from where the left leg and the right leg would normally be, but being made of an entire panel of structural material.

Grain Pattern Direction=If the desk has wood grain, the direction refers to the way the grain pattern is laying.  Most generally, vertical grain patterns (pointing up and down) are preferred on the facing parts of the desk (we call this the chasis).  Then, a side-to-side grain pattern is preferred on the top.

Chasis= The entire under side of a desk.  All the components (the end  panels, and modesty panel) that go into making the desk structurally sound.

Book Matched Veneer=This is where the grain pattern of the wood on the veneer not only goes up and down on the face of the pedestals, modesty panel, and the overhead, but they also will look like repeating patterns like the drawers were made out of twin pieces of wood.  This is very gorgeous, but also very expensive to do.  Incidentally, this is why solid wood desks are not a prestigious desk option.  It is impossible to book match drawer faces and explains why no such thing exists as a true solid wood desk.

Thermal Fused Melamine=Also known as low pressure laminate is a commercial grade of laminate that many quality manufacturers use to build desks from today.  The surface features include heat, moisture, stain, abrasion, and peel resistant properties.  In layman terms the top surface becomes molecularly bonded with the particle board substrate making it impossible to peel the top edge off the surface.  Through a process of low pressure, but high heat the surface is bonded to the particle board.

Melamine= This is different than thermal fused melamine.  This is generally where the manufacturer will glue the paper grain pattern (much like wall paper) onto the substrate (particle board) and then spray the surface with a plastic sheen making it abrasion resistant.  This is a nice added benefit, but because it is not thermally bonded it can peel off from the substrate.  Most of the time, the laminate furniture bought from big box stores will be a melamine in attempts to “fool” as it were a minimally educated public into thinking they are buying commercial grade furniture.

High Pressure Laminate=This is the grand daddy of all laminates.   It is the highest form of laminate one can buy.  Like thermal fused laminate it is heat, moisture, stain, and abrasion, resistant.  However, it is not peel resistant.  It offers an additional feature, though, that thermal fused does not offer and that is impact resistance.  So if you are working in a shop that might drop a 20# ball on the work surface, then this is the laminate for you.  However, for the general office application, we think that it is a bit of an overkill.  The price is significantly more for a feature (impact resistance) that most offices never need.  It is a great feature for offices in factories and workshops, though.  History has shown that the trade off for impact resistance in place of peel resistance is not beneficial to the general office application.  So, if you are thinking laminate, most applications today don’t require the investment associated with HPL (High Pressure Laminate).

Veneer=This is the surface treatment that uses actual thin layers of wood to get applied to the substrate giving the impression of solid wood.  Even $50,000 desks will have a veneer surface because all of the “wow” factor that goes into hand crafted desks is done with veneer artistry (like book matching).

Burl Veneer=This is the surface treatment made of actual wood from a point in the tree where a branch met the trunk.  The result is a swirling of the grain pattern.  It is very expensive, but undeniably gorgeous.

Grommet Holes=Holes cut out in the top of the work surface (desk top) to allow the user to fish wires down to the floor below without having them hang over the edge of the desk.

Desk= In its purest form a desk is the large primary piece of office furniture that sets in front of the end user.  In office furniture professional kingdom, they will normally come in three sizes. From smallest to biggest they are 30″d x 60″w; 30 x 66; and 36 x 72.  The final is considered an “executive” desk and is 3 foot by six foot.  That is whopping big.

Credenza=a smaller work surface that sits behind the user.  It usually matches the width of the desk but is normally only 20 to 24″deep depending on manufacturer.

Storage Credenza=you guessed it, it is the work surface that sets behind the manager/user that is typically 24 deep and matches the width of the desk in front.  This one, however, usually has sliding doors in the middle inbetween the left pedestal and the right pedestal.

Storage Credenza Example

Knee Space Credenza=same as above but without the storage cabinet in the center where the users knees would go when he is working at the credenza.

Bridge= This is the worksurface that is attached between a desk and a credenza to form a U shape so that the user is sitting in a form of cockpit with writing space virtually surrounding them.

Bridge Example

Return=This is the work surface that sits to the left or the right of the user in an L shape desk configuration.  There are occasionally cases where you’ll put two returns on the left and the right of a corner desk to form an L shape workstation.

Return Shell Example

Double Pedestal Desk=A desk with two stacks of drawers on the left and the right.

Double Pedestal Desk Example

Single Pedestal Desk= Usually a part of an L shape or U shape Desk, this is a desk with only one stack of drawers on one side of the desk and something is intended to attach to the desk on the side where the drawer stack is vacant

L Desk= That form of desk that has “footprint” that makes the form of an L.  It is comprised of a desk and a return (either left or right).  Predominately, most manufacturers refer to a Right Pedestal Desk and a Left Return if the return is on the left as the desk user is sitting facing forward at his desk.  The pedestal would be on his right in this configuration which is ideal for left handed people.  However, what generally dictates the return placement is the placement of the door.  99% of the time the user should be at a desk that faces the door.  If the door is on the wall the desk is facing and it is on the right of that wall, then we generally use a left return and place the desk on the leftward side wall.  This way the guests won’t sit in the travel of the door.  A left pedestal desk and right return will make up the same L with the return portion on the users right as he faces forward.  Again in this situation, the door into the office is generally in the upper left hand corner of the wall being faced.

L Shape Desk Example

U Shape Desk=This is a desk with a primary desk in the front, a credenza behind, and a work surface (called a bridge) along one side so that the client is surrounded with work surface.  Like an L desk, they can go either right or left.  We use the same logic in placement of the U shape desk as the L desk above.

U Shape Desk Example

Desk Shell=Generally associated with modular (meaning you build what you want) office furniture, the desk shell is the sides (end panels), front (modesty panel), and top (work surface) of the desk.  It does not include any drawers.  This way the user can decide if they want drawers on the left or the right of the desk and exactly what type of pedestals they’d like

Desk Shell Example

Peninsula/Bullet Desk=This is a type of desk that doesn’t have any drawers.  It is like a table top rounded on the end with a metal column under the rounded end for support.

Bullet Desk Example

Bow Front Desk=This is a type of desk shell that the surface bows outward toward the guests of the desk owner.

Bow Front Desk Example

Corner Desk=This is used for computer applications and was originally designed to manage the mass of the CRT tube computer screen.  Now it provides a handy place to put your computer technology and preserve the most of the remaining desk surface for paper work.

Corner Desk Example

Executive Desk= This refers to the size of the desk.  As a general rule,  the executive desk is 36″ x 72″ and can be rectangular, bow front, or bullet shaped.

Managers Desk= This also refers to the size of the desk. Managers desk are generally 30″ x 66″, or 30″ x 60″ and most likely will be rectangular.

Managers Desk Example

Sales Desk=This is a desk that is most likely 48″ x 30″ with a single pedestal.

Sales Desk Example

Modesty Panel=This is the board out front of the desk that protects the knee well compartment of the desk from being seen by the guests.

Full Modesty Panel=This is when the modesty panel goes all the way to the floor.

Partial or 3/4 Modesty Panel=This is when there is still an area of 8″ above the floor that doesn’t have modesty panel.  It is usually used with 3/4 pedestals providing just enough coverage to cover the unfinished back of the pedestals.

Modular desk system= any desk based system comprised of empty shells that you attach various forms of storage on either side of the desk that can be field reversed.  Numerous options regarding overhead storage, cabinetry, worksurfaces, etc are usually offered in a modular desking system.  This is a great option for the user who reconfigures often as the drawers can easily be switched out from left to right, etc.

Core Removeable Locks= This is valuable lock system that allows the user to switch out the barrel of the locks to change key combinations after an employee has severed his relationship with the organization, or when a key is lost just replace the lock cylinder with a new key combination.

Keyed Alike=This is a term that refers to making all of the drawer locks have the same key with in a given office. In modular furniture, you will usually have multiple key numbers on one desk, the left ped may require a different key than the other ped.

Leveling Glide=This is the round foot at the bottom of the desk or file that will raise or lower when spun.  This is important because concrete floors are not level–anywhere–and leveling glides will help all of the drawer faces line up correctly.

Multifile/Combination Lateral File=This is a type of lateral file/pedestal that goes underneath the credenza or return that has a lateral file on bottom, two box drawers, and a file drawer on top.  This is best used when the user wants a bullet desk but also wants abundant storage.

Multi File Example

Hutch=This is overhead storage that sits on top of a worksurface like a credenza or a return. Generally speaking the doors will swing left to right on most applications of a desk hutch.

Hutch Example

Flipper Door Cabinet=This is the type of overhead where the doors actually flip up and move inside or above the cabinet

Open Hutch=This is a type of hutch that doesn’t have doors on it at all.

Open Hutch Example

The amount of chemical that is poured into the iron to create the foam determines the density of the foam.  Higher density foams have thicker cell walls trapping the air and therefore longer life before beginning the process called “break-down”.  In layman’s terms, the cell walls of higher density foam last longer (in terms of years of service) than medium and lower density foams.  This means it will take much more wear and tear in the ups and downs of being compressed and released as the user gets in and out of the chair through out the day.

Typically lower density foam only has three years of service life before they begin to the process of break down under normal usage.  Breakdown is a slow process that may take up to two more years to fully notice the affects of degredation.  By comparison, many higher density foams will have a longer shelf life (9 years in some cases) before beginning the break-down process.

Once breakdown has completed, it is usually easy to identify.  The user begins to feel the wood or metal seat pan beneath the foam or the wood frame that foam floats above on a thin layer of meshing often referred to as ultra flex.  In either case, the feeling is undeniable that despite seeing an upholstered piece of foam on the seat you actually feel like your sitting on the wood frame itself.  For this reason, USED office chairs are typically not deemed a wise aftermarket investment–even for the short run.  Even if it was built by the Mercedes Benz of office furniture manufacturers, that foam had a shelf life when it left the factory and most likely will not be able to service the new users expectations adequately.

One draw back to high density foam is that the cell walls are typcially so thick that they don’t allow a lot of flexing around the encapsolated air molecules.  For this reason a high quality high density foam chair may actually feel firm to the user at first test.  An educated consumer realizes this is a sign of high quality and like a new pair of shoes it must go through a break-in season before it really fits them perfectly.

By all means, beware because the lower the density of foam, the softer the initial sit and cheap, inexpensive chairs will woo potential suiters with their supple soft cushioning.  Yet, three years later they will be a fraction of the comfort they were when initially purchased.

For this very reason, many reputable office furniture manufacturers will laminate a thin layer of lower density foam over the foundational high density foam to provide both early user comfort and product service longevity.  Remember from an earlier lesson, we identified that shipping weight is a great way to identify product quality.  In either case, the lower density foams will weigh less than higher density foam and will show up in the shipping weight.

The entire 9 to 5 product line featured at Smart Buy Office Furniture prides itself in high density foam chairs to insure a long lasting product that the user will be proud of for years to come.  Please visit us at www.smartbuydesk.com for more examples of higher quality foam chairs.

Occasionally, you may find an advancement in office furniture technology that might upset this rule.  For example, the 5 prong waffle PVC base  is much lighter than it’s dinosaur predecessor the welded metal base.  Most consumers are unaware that the polyethylene waffle base passes more stress tests than the old metal clad bases.  This is because the molecular bonding is through out the entire office furniture base rather than the strength being found at the weld points of the old metal bases. In this case, the lighter the base the better.

However, for the most part, check the shipping weights of the office chairs you are interested in.  Compare a professional dealers office chair to an office supply big box store office chair and you will see a world of difference.  When you think of what just a little bit more money will get you as far as quality it may makes sense to upgrade your office chair portion of your office furniture budget.  Remember, the office chair is the only piece of office furniture that can actually pay for itself in the first year through increased worker productivity.  As a business owner, you know you pay wages for those “employee stretches, body shifts, pauses to eleviate back pain” not to mention repetitive stress injury expense.

Don’t forget to test the office chair in the local office furniture dealer’s showroom.  If you go to a professional office furniture dealership, they will be able to fit the chair to you in the showroom with all of the adjustments, etc.   If not, and you are in the Austin, TX market call us and let us know 512-452-DESK, we’ll come to your site and adjust the office chair.