Building a desk above a radiator?? (picture added)

uropachild

Hullo!! I am going to be working from home starting in September. YEY! So i need to rearrange our home office / junk room to accommodate my working space.

The ideal place to put a desk is under the window and i can get some ikea worktop for £20 that is pretty much perfect! I just need to get some legs and voila!

Only thing is that there's a radiator on that wall... Now, the desk space will be open with possibly a set of drawers at one side underneath, but not in front of the radiator.

Am i able to build the desk there so that it sits above the radiator? Do i have to have a minimum clearance space above? Would i be better cutting a chunk out of the worktop so that the radiator can vent through the hole?

Here's a photo in case it helps...

System

it will be much better to have a vent over the radiator if it's likely to be on when you are at the desk - you don't want to be sitting at a desk with all the heat trapped under it - are you going to be working at a computer screen here too? might get a bit sore on the eyes with the window behind... you can also get a small add on piece for your expedit shelves to make a desk

uropachild

Thank you!! Yeah, i am going to be at a computer. I can always close the blinds for the lighting though. The desk will be used for crafting too, so i wanted it here for natural light.

I have looked at the expedit add on. It's £35 and not as big obviously as a worktop would be. I bet if i put the worktop in it will cost similar, but i think it will be neater. One continuous surface with drawers underneath to hide them. I'll just move the expedit further away from the window. It's a perfect fit actually to move it back snug against the opposite wall to this one. I do hope i can make the desk work here cause i have puzzled over this for aaaaaaaages lol!

System

yeah, i've had a similar set up before, i ended up moving the desk away from the walls so there was plenty of ventilation around it, just watch your computer overheating too! if you're north facing or don't get any direct sunlight it should be fine, my old office did and you do get strained eyes after a while
just mentioned the expedit add on in case you hadn't seen it as they are fairly tidy and clip into the shelves so you can still access the bottom corner but sounds like you've thought about it

uropachild

Good thinking about the computer!

I had a thought... I'll probably mount the worktop with a chunk cut out where the radiator is. So the heat can escape up and also so i have somewhere to dangle my computer wires. I'll just make it wider than the actual radiator width.

Ooo it does help to chat it out with someone!

There's little to no sunlight coming in that window. It's right onto the next door neighbours house and they have an extension on that side too. Not so good usually, but for this it's better i guess.