Ergo Elements Manual Height Adjustable Stand Up Desk Frame Crank System Ergonomic Standing 2 Leg Workstation, Black

I went down the route of trying to build one, and it's simply not worth it. To get to a point where you can easily adjust the height on a homemade desk is really, really difficult. You're much better off (both in terms of time and finances) with going with a prebuilt solution.

Here's a few of the commercial options that I considered:

* Crank-adjustable desk frame: www.amazon.com/Ergo-Elements-Adjustable-Standing-Black/dp/B00YE6CRY8 with an IKEA desk top, perhaps. I also considered using a solid wood door that a friend was going to give me, but it was quite heavy and looked pretty bad.

* The IKEA electric standing desk (Bekant): http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/S19022530/ A couple friends have had mixed success with this one. If you live near an IKEA, go check it out in person.

* A fixed standing desk and a tall stool (this is likely the cheapest option and would be the easiest to build yourself). Nothing in particular that I can link to on this one, but if you can find something that has the desk top at > 40" from the ground, that's probably a good candidate. I'm 6'0" and my standing preset is at 43.5" (sitting is 27" if you're curious).

* NextDesk - this is the one I ended up going with. I got the Terra (http://www.nextdesks.com/terra) and I'm very happy with it. It's expensive, but it felt a lot more solid than many of the other options that I looked into, and at the end of the day, it's holding a lot of expensive things. I don't want any issues with it, particularly those that result in the damage or destruction of my electronics.

A question, though: you said you didn't want electronics or a motor. I'm curious - why not? I'm assuming you're a developer, and you're going to have a computer at your desk, so there's likely power nearby. Is it a philosophical thing or something?