Commercial · Reception desks
Bespoke reception desks and counters
Reception desks and counters for hotels, offices, salons and showrooms: drawn for the entrance, made in our Poole workshop and fitted by our own joiners.
We design and make bespoke reception desks and counters for hotels, offices, salons and showrooms. Each desk is drawn for its entrance, built in our Poole workshop in solid timber, veneer or solid surface, and fitted by our own joiners, out of hours where the business has to keep trading.
A reception desk is the first piece of joinery a guest or client meets, and the one that works hardest. From the door it has to look as though it belongs to the building; behind the counter it has to work all day, with drawers, cupboards and cabling for the people who use it.
We have made the main reception desk at Chewton Glen, the five-star hotel on the edge of the New Forest, and a hotel reception desk with a seamless solid-surface top. Both are below, with what each shows about how a desk is made.
The Chewton Glen desk
For the main entrance hall of Chewton Glen we made a desk in the Georgian manner: dark mahogany, raised-and-fielded panels edged with inlaid stringing, a moulded top and plinth, and brass ring pulls, so it looks as though it has always stood in the hall.
It is set out as an L with a return, which gives reception two working positions, and the guest side of the top is inset with three leather writing panels. It was drawn, made and polished in our workshop as one piece of furniture.
Read the Chewton Glen reception desk story.
Chewton Glen · the hotel’s reception desk
Solid-surface tops
A desk can also be topped in Corian or another solid surface. On this hotel reception, a seamless top runs over a painted timber front, wrapped and jointed so the whole desk reads as one continuous piece.
Solid surface is hard-wearing and easy to clean, and it can be heat-formed into curves, so a curved desk or counter can be made without a visible joint. See Corian & solid surface.
Hotel reception · solid-surface top
The working side
Behind the front, a reception desk is fitted furniture for the people who use it all day. At Chewton Glen that meant a lower staff counter with drawers and cupboards, and the cabling for a working five-star reception planned in from the start, so nothing shows from the guest side.
Chewton Glen · the staff side
What a desk can be made in
MaterialsMade in Poole, fitted around trading
Once the guide price works for you, we survey the space and draw the desk, so it fits the entrance it is made for and works for the people behind it. It is made at the bench in our Poole workshop and fitted by the joiners who made it.
We work to the programme, alongside the architect, the contractor and the interior designer, and out of hours where a hotel, shop or office has to keep running. Our hotel and restaurant joinery has been fitted in the New Forest and in London: see commercial & hospitality joinery.
How a desk is made
From drawings to the final fitCommon questions
Reception desksCan you make a reception desk to our designer’s drawings?
Yes. We regularly work to an architect’s or interior designer’s drawings, adding the workshop detailing that makes a desk buildable, or we design the desk from a brief. Either way, you approve set-out drawings and samples before anything is made.
Can you fit a new desk without closing reception?
We plan the installation around your trading hours and work out of hours where the business has to keep running. The desk is made and finished in our workshop, so the time on site is spent fitting it.
What can a reception desk be made from?
Solid timber such as mahogany, oak or walnut, veneer or painted timber, with tops in timber, inset leather or a solid surface such as Corian. Materials can be combined: the mahogany desk at Chewton Glen has brass ring pulls and leather writing tops.
Can the desk hide the cables and equipment?
Yes, and it should. Cabling and storage are drawn in from the start, so the staff side works and nothing shows from the guest side. At Chewton Glen the staff side is a lower counter with drawers and cupboards.
Do you make curved reception desks?
Yes, in solid surface. Corian and similar materials can be heat-formed into a curve and joined without a visible seam, so a curved desk or counter reads as one piece.
How do we start?
Send us your drawings, or a few photos of the space with rough sizes. We come back with a guide price, then visit to survey and talk it through before anything is drawn in detail.
Further reading
Where we work
Reception desks for businesses in Poole, Sandbanks, Canford Cliffs, Branksome Park and Bournemouth — and across Dorset, the New Forest & Hampshire.
By appointment
Arrange a consultation.
Send us your drawings, or a few photos of the space with rough sizes. We’ll come back with a guide price, then arrange a visit to survey. No obligation, and no fixed catalogue.