Until just recently (wife's choice) I used an 8ft piece of Formica from Lowe's that someone had special ordered but never picked up. It cost me $40 in 2001.

I used that desk for about 18 years. Somewhere along the way I got a hole saw and drilled holes and popped in grommets where I wanted them. It was great for a desk for working (rounded from corner), the backsplash kept stuff from falling behind it, I drilled power strips into the bottom, the surface could be cleaned for eating, and it was heat resistant for soldering. For the ends, I got two Hon filing cabinets from a used office supply store for about $25/ea. Such a great desk, with our new house I may go back to it.

A friend of mine did something similar, went to Lowes and found a bunch of counter top someone ordered and for whatever reason didn't take at a steep discount, screwed it into the studs of one wall of his computer room and then used 2x4s in the front corners and another in the center of the center to act as legs. Sadly, now it is his boy's bedroom and he's no longer as cool.

IKEA's table tops are $9 for 40", $22 for 47", $29 for 59", $47 for 78". The finishes are better than they were long ago too. The metal legs that fit any top are $4 each. If you're not near an IKEA, they ship anything under about 4 feet in length for $9.99 -- you can double up 4 feet table tops to make longer ones.

Exactly this. I looked into doors as table tops and found them to be more expensive than table top from IKEA. So we went with IKEA

Which is the most durable material for a table that I can select in an IKEA? They offer a variety of materials.

We only buy one top [0], but it holds up well. 4 years and counting and most of them are in fairly good shape.

[0] https://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/20251139/

We use these at my wife's office, plus the corner pieces. We put them all on legs with wheels and stuck dual lock on the corners. Now she has desks that can be drug around and reconfigured for a pittance.

Though that kind is hollow. They have solid fiberboard but it caps at 59 inches and it's more than double the price.

Ikea's “Gerton” tabletop (90€ / $100. 155×75cm = 61×29.5”) is really, really nice — it uses ≈5cm-wide beech hardwood strips glued together and reinforced across the width with some metal . It works with Bekant legs (if you have a 10mm wood bit and some masking tape handy), which are also available as sit/stand legs (that's 430€ / $350, though. the non-adjustable ones are a lot cheaper.)

The hollow ones are a bargain until you try to attach a clamp on monitor stand or lamp. The clamp crushes the table top as you tighten it.

Get a door with the pre drilled handle hole if it's the same cost. Nice for routing cables under.

For my home desk I used a second hand dining table. It's 2.5 metres long, cost ~$200, and is beautifully finished timber. It worked out cheaper and much nicer than building a desk out of new wood. The second hand market for furniture in my city is amazingly cheap.

> if you want a giant desk just buy an unpainted door.

Isn't this supposedly what Amazon did in their early days?

They did, and the tip is now out of date. A latter-day Bezos would drive a U-haul down the I-5 to IKEA Renton and buy a bunch of 2 meter Linnmon desk tops for $47.99 each.

Don't buy a door. Just buy the mass-produced commodity fiberboard item made for the exact purpose. Tricks and tips are overrated.

Yeah their first table for packing.

they still do

i went to a home-improvement market and got 1m by 2m 1" board. got a good deal on it too, because it was cut from a larger left-over piece they could not use.

added 4 table legs from ikea, and painted the board with wood-finish.

Why not just buy an actual Ikea desk at that price?

Does it not have holes for the handle and lock?

You can buy them with no mortises or holes.

Here's an example: https://www.homedepot.com/p/JELD-WEN-32-in-x-80-in-Primed-Fl...

A door is a terrible idea. It’s too thick so it will be too high or your knees will hit it.

My desk at work is about 1-1/8" inch. A solid core interior door is 1-3/8". I can't imagine 1/4" extra making that big of a difference.