If you like great-looking desk accessories, you’ve no doubt heard of the company Grovemade. They are a small boutique company based in Portland.
Their desk shelf is a big hit with super clean aesthetics and is made from high-quality materials. The Grovemade desk shelf also comes in four different sizes and ten different colors!
Grovemade claims these desk shelves are “designed to last a lifetime”.
The Downside With Grovemade
The main issue people have with Grovemade products is a common complaint with high-quality products: the price. Though the price might be justified, not everyone who needs the functionality of a desk shelf wants to spend an arm and a leg for one.
I was faced with this dilemma a few months ago when I was shopping for a desk shelf. Trust me, I really wanted the Grovemade desk shelf.
As you can see in the image below, I went with a much cheaper alternative that gets the job done perfectly fine!
A normal large Grovemade desk shelf made from oak plywood on their website goes for $280. This actually the cheapest price the large shelf comes in, yikes.
For fun, I tried to find the most expensive shelf size and material. The winner is the Blackened Walnut configuration in extra large priced at $580 at the time of writing. And that’s without tax!
In this article, we’re going to help you save your hard-earned cash with the best Grovemade Desk Shelf alternatives. Lucky for us, there are plenty of alternatives out there!
Grovemade Desk Shelf Alternatives
Here are the best Grovemade desk shelf alternatives sorted by price.
Aothia Desk Shelf
First and foremost is the Aothia desk shelf. This is the desk shelf I ended up purchasing because the cost was a fraction of every other desk shelf of the same size.
It has a large 43-inch desk surface with a real plywood top! The way they cut costs here is with the legs. They are super simple press-on cork legs, this way they didn’t have to add any assembly hardware.
- Comes in three wood grain colors
- Made with real poplar wood
- Supports up to 100 lbs.
- 43 inch by 9.4 inch surface
- Affordable compared to other wood desk shelves of the same size
- Cork legs are not the prettiest
Plus, they occasionally put this desk shelf on sale, so you can pay 4-5 times less what a large Grovemade desk shelf costs. Here’s what my desk looks like using this desk shelf.
Office Oasis Desk Shelf
The next affordable desk shelf is from another Amazon brand. This is a 42-inch wide desk shelf made of pressed bamboo.
Bamboo is a very affordable type of wood which is why this option is relatively cost effective as well. They do use fancier legs than the previous desk shelf however which is why this is a bit more expensive.
- Comes in natural wood, black, and brown colors
- Supports up to 100 lbs
- Comes with 5x Stainless Steel legs
- 42 inch x 10.5 inch top platform
- Lifetime Warranty
- Stainless legs might be too "shiny" for certain desk setups
Instead of cork press on legs, you get strong stainless steel tube legs. And if there is anything wrong with your desk shelf, you are also backed by a lifetime warranty.
When small Amazon brands say “lifetime warranty”, it just means the life of the brand, so don’t take this too literally.
Etsy Desk Shelf Options
This desk shelf I found on Etsy is another great option if you like to support smaller businesses.
This first desk shelf is from a seller called TGmastery. Their medium desk shelf is about 43 inches wide and 8.7 inches deep. It also comes in a lot of different colors and configurations.
The shelf is made from birch plywood with a veneer on top depending on which material you choose.
The seller lets you add shelves to one or both sides of the desk shelf if you want more organization options. It has a ton of reviews from happy customers as well.
I also found this desk shelf on Etsy as well from a company called Oakyland. This shelf has some similarities to the Grovemade design at a fraction of the cost.
Oakywood Desk Shelf
If you are looking for a solid wood desk shelf for a less outrageous cost, Oakywood should be considered.
Oakywood can be considered a small boutique brand as well, but they are not nearly as expensive as Grovemade.
These desk shelves are super simplistic and have a very airy vibe to them. The two legs are steel hoops which lets you see the items under your desk shelf from every angle.
- Solid Oak Wood Surface
- Supports 220 lbs
- 41.3 inch by 9 inch surface
- Steel legs with cork base
- Cost is relatively high due to solid oak top surface
The solid wood top and the steel legs give this desk shelf a super capacity of 220 lbs! This is more than anyone should need, but just shows how sturdy this product will be.
Balolo Setup Cockpit Desk Shelf
This last desk shelf is over $200, but I had to include it in this list for a few reasons. It’s not your average desk shelf. If you haven’t heard of the Balolo Desk Shelf, check it out here.
This desk shelf is 45 inches wide and 9 inches deep. Similar to Grovemade, it can only support 50lbs. It comes in walnut, oak, and black.
What’s unique about this desk shelf is that Balolo sells a bunch of modular accessories that can be attached to this desk shelf. There is a grid of threaded holes underneath this desk shelf!
You can attach an organizer tray, a laptop holder, a MagSafe phone holder, a headphone stand, and more. If you only choose a few accessories, you can get a much more functional desk shelf for the same price as the Grovemade desk shelf!
The Balolo desk shelf is a huge win if you have the budget.
Grovemade Shelf Alternative Requirements
The desk shelf alternatives in this article have to mirror the qualities of the Grovemade desk shelf. Here’s what is important to look for in an alternative.
Large Overall Size
These days Grovemade has four different sizes, but they started with a single large size. The large desk shelves are able to hold two monitors or a monitor plus a laptop.
Because desk shelves add space by creating a platform and a storage space underneath, larger shelves are more functional. We will consider any desk shelf wider than 40 inches to be “large”.
Considering smaller desks are around 40+ inches in width, this should be compatible with most desks out there. Also, this is the size where the cost really goes up for wood desk shelves.
If you do want a desk shelf less than 40 inches in width, keep reading because many of these alternatives have multiple sizes.
Made of Wood
Part of what makes the Grovemade desk shelves so expensive is the use of real wood. They use both solid wood and plywood.
Wood accessories will always look and feel better than less premium materials. Wood is also a strong enough material to support monitors which is probably the heaviest item a desk shelf will see.
Not to mention that wooden desk shelves will match desks very easily if your desk has a wood appearance.
Decent Holding Capacity
Because monitors will likely be the heaviest item on your desk shelf, they need to be able to support this weight. We talk about the average weight of a monitor in this article.
Two monitors or a single ultrawide monitor can add a decent amount of weight to a desk shelf. In the article above, the heaviest monitor was a 34″ ultrawide at 25 lbs. The second heaviest was a 32″ screen at 23 lbs.
The Grovemade desk shelf can hold up to 50 lbs. This will be a good baseline to support a typical dual monitor or single ultrawide monitor setup.
Not Too Expensive
The whole reason for escaping Grovemade is because of the price. Remember, the cheapest Grovemade large-size desk shelf is nearly $300!
The alternatives in this article won’t go near this price. Because there is such a huge range of alternatives, we will break them down into different prices, starting with the budget-friendly desk shelves!
