Reception Desk with Counter: Transaction Counter Types, Heights and Sizes

The short answer: a transaction counter is the raised ledge on the visitor side of a reception desk, 12 inches deep and 41 to 42 inches off the floor, above a 29-1/8 inch work surface. It gives a standing visitor a place to sign and hides the receptionist's screen. There are five ways to build one: a stack-on counter that hooks over the front of the desk (41-1/8 in), a hang-on counter on a 40 inch panel (41-7/8 in), a shroud that wraps the whole front (42 in), a full-height counter that stands on the floor beside a sit-stand desk (41 in), and a plain laminate ledge on a 40 inch panel (41-1/8 in); a glass ledge can float on top of the first, second or fourth. 18 of our 19 reception desks have one, and the type decides how private, how open and how heavy the front of the room feels.

What is a transaction counter on a reception desk?

A reception desk has two levels. The work surface, where the receptionist sits, is ordinary desk height: 29-1/8 inches on ours. The transaction counter is the second level on the visitor side, 12 inches deep and 41 to 42 inches high, the ledge a standing visitor signs on, sets a bag on, or slides a package across. Between the two runs a panel or the counter's own front, which is what keeps the monitor, the paperwork and the receptionist's lap out of the lobby's view. "Reception counter", "transaction counter", "greeter ledge" and "sign-in counter" all mean this second level; on a desk with no counter, the receptionist's screen faces the room.

The counter is a component that pairs with a desk shell, and our line has three shells. A desk-height shell is a plain desk with a full-height front, its top at 29-1/8 inches. A panel shell has 40 inch high front and side panels around the same 29-1/8 inch work surface. A sit-stand shell puts the work surface on an electric base, in either of those forms. Which shell you have decides which counters fit.

Which type of reception counter should you choose?

The counter and the desk shell are built as a pair, so the choice starts with the shell. A desk-height shell takes a stack-on or a shroud. A panel shell takes a hang-on or a plain ledge. A sit-stand shell takes whatever stands on the floor or hangs on a fixed panel, never a counter that rests on the surface: the full-height counter or a shroud on a sit-stand desk-height shell, the plain ledge on a sit-stand panel shell. Glass goes on top of a stack-on, hang-on or full-height counter. Below, in order of how much of the desk they cover, with a one-line rule for choosing: shroud for privacy, full-height for a sit-stand desk, stack-on or hang-on for a counter that is shorter than the desk, angled hang-on to face the door, plain ledge for the lightest build, and glass for a small lobby that wants the tallest element see-through.

Stack-on counter (41-1/8 inches). In plain terms: a raised box that sits on the front edge of an ordinary desk and gives visitors a ledge above it. A counter unit 30 inches tall that hooks over the front edge of a desk-height shell: 6 of its 12 inches rest on the work surface, the other 6 project past the front, its front panel hangs down the face of the desk, and its top lands 12 inches above the surface, at 41-1/8. It is the easiest counter to size, from 30 to 72 inches long, and an L-shaped version wraps a corner. It must stop at least 6 inches short of each end of the surface it sits on, and because it hangs off the front, the desk needs a pedestal on the working side as a counterweight once the counter gets wide: on a 60 to 78 inch desk any stack-on over 30 inches needs two pedestals, on an 84 to 96 inch desk over 36, on a 102 inch desk over 36, and on a 108 to 120 inch desk over 42. That is the counter on the Overture Straight Reception Desk with Glass Counter and the Overture Modern Reception Desk with Counter (54 inches wide on a 96 inch desk, both with a glass ledge), the 60 inch counter on the Overture Modern U-Shaped Reception Desk, and the 54 by 54 inch L-shaped counter on the Overture Reception Desk with Storage. The visible faces on those four are high-pressure laminate, the tougher commercial grade, because they are the surfaces the lobby touches.

Hang-on counter (41-7/8 inches). In plain terms: a ledge that hooks onto the outside of a tall front panel, so the panel hides the desk and the ledge sits just above it. A 1-7/8 inch thick ledge and front that hangs on the visitor face of a 40 inch panel, 12 inches deep and 34 inches high, with a 1 inch gap to the panel. The counter top rides over the panel, so on our drawings a hang-on desk on a 30 inch shell measures 31-7/8 inches deep overall: the counter adds under 2 inches to the footprint. The panels do the screening, so the counter itself can be short: the Overture Reception Desk, ADA Compliant carries a 48 inch hang-on ledge on a 72 inch front, and the Overture Modern Reception Desk, whose panels are 3 inch thick high-pressure laminate, a 48 inch ledge on a 120 inch front. The Overture Reception Desk with Lockable Drawers uses a 72 inch angled version, which turns the ledge toward the door; the Overture U-Shaped Reception Desk with Drawers uses a straight 72.

Shroud counter (42 inches). In plain terms: a wall of panels that stands in front of the desk from the floor to counter height, so from the lobby you see one solid front and nothing behind it. A counter that wraps the whole front of a desk-height shell and runs to the floor: 1-7/8 inch top and sides, a 3/4 inch full-height front inset 6 inches, 12 inches deep, 4 inches wider than the desk it covers. From the lobby side it reads as one solid block, which is why it is the private option: no knee space, no pedestal and no screen shows. Because it stands on the floor, it also works in front of a sit-stand shell. It is built in 6 inch steps from 64 to 124 inches, in two pieces with a centre seam over 96, and the desk widths in our table already include it: the Overture Straight Reception Desk with Transaction Counter is an 82 inch shroud over a 78 inch shell, the Overture L-Shaped Reception Desk with Storage a 94 inch shroud over a 90 inch shell, and the Overture Height-Adjustable U-Shaped Reception Desk with Credenza puts an 88 inch shroud in front of a sit-stand desk and bridge.

Full-height counter (41 inches). In plain terms: a counter that stands on the floor on its own legs in front of a sit-stand desk, so the desk can rise and fall behind it. For a desk whose work surface rides an electric base. The counter stands on the floor on its own adjustable glides, 12 inches deep and 41 inches high, and the work surface travels behind it, from 27.75 to 47.4 inches on the straight desks, while the counter never moves. The Overture Reception Desk with Glass Transaction Counter is the straight version with a 42 inch wide counter and a glass ledge; the Overture U-Shaped Reception Desk with Transaction Counter puts a 42 inch counter on a U and the Overture Height-Adjustable L-Shaped Reception Desk a 36 inch counter with glass on an L.

Plain ledge on a panel (41-1/8 inches). In plain terms: a flat strip laid across the top of the tall front panel, no box and no hang-on unit, just the panel top finished as a ledge. The simplest counter: a 1-1/8 inch laminate top on the 40 inch panels of a panel shell, bracketed on at setup, 60 to 120 inches long as standard and cut to special sizes on request. Both of ours are specials: the 48 inch strip above the four angled accent panels of the Overture U-Shaped Reception Desk, and the counter on the Overture U-Shaped Reception Desk with Storage.

Two desks in our line are ready to ship rather than made to order, also made in the USA, and their counters are built in rather than chosen: the 60 inch Overture Reception Desk with Lockable Pedestal at 41 inches and the compact L-Shaped Reception Desk with Counter and Lockable Drawers at 42. They are not part of the made-to-order counter system, so a glass ledge or an accessible section cannot be added to them. One desk has no counter at all, the open Overture Height-Adjustable Reception Desk, for a lobby that wants the receptionist visible.

Worth knowing: a transaction counter on its own is not an accessible counter. Every build above finishes at 41 to 42 inches, above the 36 inch maximum the ADA sets for a service counter (34 in California). Where the public is served, one section of the desk has to come down to desk height; on our made-to-order desks that is an add-on section on the end of the shell, beside the counter or the shroud, and one desk has it built in. The rules and the add-on are in our reception desk dimensions guide.

What is an office reception counter?

An office reception counter is the raised ledge on the visitor side of a reception desk, 12 inches deep and 41 to 42 inches high, where visitors sign in, while the receptionist works at a 29-1/8 inch surface behind it. In an office it does three jobs a retail counter does not: it hides a monitor and the day's paperwork from the lobby, it gives a standing visitor a surface at hip to waist height for a signature or a package, and it draws the line between the staff side and the guest side of the room. Every build on this page is that counter; the sections above say how each is made, and the ones below say how big it should be.

How high, deep and wide should a reception counter be?

Height. 41 to 42 inches to the top, across every build. That puts the ledge at a standing adult's hip to waist, high enough to hide a monitor on a 29-1/8 inch desk, low enough to sign on. The differences between 41, 41-1/8, 41-7/8 and 42 come from how each counter is built, not from a design choice, and none of them is noticeable in use.

Depth. 12 inches, on every counter in the line. A stack-on puts 6 of those inches on the work surface and 6 past the front of the desk; a shroud's top overhangs its own front by 6 inches; a hang-on rides over the panel and adds under 2 inches to the desk's depth. The widths and depths in the table below are the overall footprint from our drawings, counter included.

Width. Match it to the desk and the traffic. A single-receptionist desk of 84 to 96 inches takes a 42 to 60 inch counter, which leaves an open stretch of desk for the receptionist to pass paperwork and gives the lobby one obvious place to stand. A counter the full width of the desk, which is what a shroud gives you, screens everything but also means every visitor is met over a wall. Two receptionists, or a lobby that queues, want a 120 inch front: the Overture Reception Desk with Lockable Drawers, the Overture Modern Reception Desk and the Overture U-Shaped Reception Desk with Drawers are all 120 inches with a hang-on counter, and the U-shaped desks wrap a second work zone behind the front. Stack-on and hang-on counters are made from 30 to 72 inches in 6 inch steps, shrouds from 64 to 124, and a stack-on always stops at least 6 inches short of each end of the desk.

Glass counter or laminate?

A glass ledge is a 3/8 inch sheet of clear tempered glass, 12 inches deep, that floats on metal stand-offs above a laminate counter; it is always installed on top of another counter, never on the desk itself. It wipes clean in seconds, shows less wear than a laminate ledge, and keeps the tallest part of the desk see-through, which is why it reads lighter in a small lobby. It has a faint green tint at the edges, as clear tempered glass does, and it is cut to size, 30 to 72 inches, on four stand-offs up to 48 inches and six above, so it fits a stack-on, hang-on or full-height counter and not a shroud or a long ledge. The counter heights in our table are to the laminate; the glass sits above that by its stand-offs and its own 3/8 inch. 5 of our desks carry one: the Overture Reception Desk with Glass Transaction Counter, the two 96 inch straight desks, the Overture Modern U-Shaped Reception Desk and the Overture Height-Adjustable L-Shaped Reception Desk.

Laminate is the counter itself. Every build comes in thermally-fused laminate or in high-pressure laminate, which is thicker-skinned and the grade to specify for a lobby that takes bags, carts and cleaning crews all day; the angled hang-on comes in high-pressure laminate only. Choose glass for lightness and easy cleaning, high-pressure laminate for the counter face that gets hit, and thermally-fused laminate where the budget matters more than the finish.

Can a counter be added to an existing reception desk?

On our Overture desks, yes: the counters are components, ordered with the desk or later. A desk-height shell takes a stack-on or a shroud, a transaction-height shell takes a hang-on or a plain ledge, and a glass ledge goes on top of whichever counter is there. A stack-on must stop at least 6 inches short of each end of the surface, and past the widths given above it needs two pedestals on the working side as a counterweight, which is why we ask for the desk's length and its pedestals before quoting one. Counters are made to fit the desk shell, so we do not sell them for desks from other makers.

Every reception desk we list, measured, by counter type

All 19 reception desks we list, narrowest to widest. Width by depth is the overall footprint from our drawings, counter included; counter height is from the floor to the top of the laminate counter; counter width is the counter component itself, from the parts lists. 6 of the desks with counters put the work surface on an electric base, marked in the table. All are made in the USA, to order except the two ready-to-ship desks. Each name opens the product page, where the current price, the renders and the dimension diagram live.

Reception counters, questions answered

What is a reception counter?

The raised ledge on the visitor side of a reception desk, 12 inches deep and 41 to 42 inches high, where visitors sign in; see what an office reception counter does above.

How tall is a reception counter?

41 to 42 inches from the floor to the top of the laminate. Ours finish at 41, 41-1/8, 41-7/8 or 42 inches depending on how the counter is built; a glass ledge sits above that on its stand-offs.

What is the difference between a transaction counter and a reception counter?

None in practice. Transaction counter is the manufacturing term for the ledge; reception counter, greeter ledge and sign-in counter are what buyers call it.

What is a 2 person reception desk with counter?

A 120 inch front with a counter, or a U-shaped desk. Three of our 120 inch desks carry hang-on counters, and the U-shaped desks add a return and a credenza so two people can work without sharing the front.

Can you make a custom reception counter?

Yes. Stack-on and hang-on counters from 30 to 72 inches, shrouds from 64 to 124 and plain ledges from 60 to 120, in 6 inch steps, plus special sizes on request, straight, angled or L-shaped, in thermally-fused or high-pressure laminate with a glass ledge on top if wanted. Made to order in 2 to 4 weeks with the desk.

Do you sell a reception counter on its own?

We sell counters for our own Overture desk shells, with the desk or as an add-on to one you already have from us. They are built to the shell's length and thickness, so they do not fit other makers' desks.

Is a 42 inch reception counter ADA compliant?

Not on its own. Where the public is served, one section of the desk has to be 36 inches high or lower (34 in California) and 36 inches long. That section is desk height, beside the counter, and is an add-on on our desks. Details are in the reception desk dimensions guide.