Desk Center & Pencil Drawers

Your desktop is buried under pens, sticky notes, and paper clips with nowhere to go. A pencil drawer, also called a center drawer, mounts below your worksurface at the center and slides out on demand to hold that clutter without eating into your desk space. It is the classic fix for keeping small supplies off the top surface without committing to a full pedestal. If your desk has an open center section underneath, grab a center drawer and get your desktop back in order fast. Check out [desk parts and accessories](https://www.findofficefurniture.com/desk-accessories) for available models.

Most pencil drawers use a clip-mount or frame-mount system, attaching to the underside of the worksurface with hardware included in the box. The process runs simple: measure the center span of your desk, mount the track or brackets to the underside, and slide the drawer in. No drilling through the top surface on most models. Before you buy, confirm your desk has enough underside clearance and frame structure to accept the mounting hardware — skip this check and you risk a drawer that will not fit.

Most run 18 to 24 inches wide and 14 to 18 inches deep, with a height of only 2 to 3 inches — shallow by design. That thin profile is exactly what lets the drawer fit under your desk without cutting into knee clearance. When open, the drawer extends 12 to 18 inches from the front of the desk, so confirm you have that clearance in front of your seating position before you order. A drawer that hits your knees on the way out defeats the whole point of adding one.

Most run powder-coated or painted steel bodies with metal or plastic dividers inside. Some higher-end models use laminate faces to match a specific desk finish family. The hardware — slides, pulls — is metal throughout. For a straightforward pencil holder, the material matters less than whether it mounts correctly to your desk in the first place. If a visible match to your desk finish matters to you, grab a laminate-face version that coordinates rather than settling for a mismatched steel body.

Pencil drawers are not heavy-duty drawers — they are sized for small office supplies. Most are rated for 20 to 30 pounds, which covers pens, scissors, a calculator, and other small items with room to spare. Do not load a pencil drawer with heavy files, binders, or power bricks; it is not rated for that kind of weight, and overloading it can damage the slides or the mount itself. For heavier storage needs, add a mobile pedestal alongside your desk instead.

Many do — some models include removable dividers or organizer inserts that segment the drawer into compartments. Others are open-cavity drawers with no internal structure at all. If organization inside the drawer matters to you, look for a model that includes dividers, or confirm that aftermarket organizer trays will fit the dimensions before you buy. A standard pencil drawer without dividers turns into a junk drawer fast, so plan ahead if tidy storage is your actual goal here rather than an afterthought.

Not necessarily. The drawer needs adequate clearance between the underside of your worksurface and the top of your legs and knees when seated. Measure that gap before you order. You also need a structural underside — some glass desks, very thin tops, or certain frame designs cannot accept standard pencil drawer mounting hardware. The product page often lists compatible desk types or the required clearance, so check there first rather than guessing and hoping the mount lines up once it arrives.

Most pencil drawers skip a lock entirely — they exist for convenience and organization, not security. If you need to secure supplies or small valuables at your desk, a lockable mobile pedestal or a pedestal drawer with a key lock is the right call instead. Treat pencil drawers as open-access convenience storage, not a security feature, and plan your actual valuables storage around a pedestal that is built to lock tight and hold up to that job day after day.

You get our Free Lifetime Warranty unless specifically noted, covering the drawer body, slides, and mounting hardware. These are simple, durable accessories built to last the life of your desk under normal use, without drama or surprise failures along the way. That coverage goes well beyond what you find on comparable residential or discount-brand accessories, which often skip a real warranty altogether. Buying here means you stay covered long after a bargain-bin drawer would have already failed and left you shopping again.

A center drawer mounted under a standard 29 to 30-inch desk pulls out within the ADA forward-reach zone of 15 to 48 inches for most seated wheelchair users. The key accessibility factor is that the open drawer must not reduce knee clearance below 27 inches underneath the desk. When you are evaluating a pencil drawer for an ADA-compliant workstation, confirm the mounted drawer, even fully open, does not impede the knee clearance required at that accessible work position for anyone using it.