4 Costco Gadgets That Every Home Office Should Have

Working from home has become commonplace, and having the proper equipment around your home workspace can be the difference between an inviting workday and an uncomfortable slog through your daily tasks. Readily available are gadgets that make working from home easier, as well as gadgets to boost productivity when working from home. They range from ergonomic furniture to electronics you can put to use on a daily basis. There are certain gadgets we feel every home office should have, however, and many of them are available at Costco.

The wholesaler doesn't just cater to bulk purchasing, particularly if you shop the Costco online store. It's a reliable source for home office essentials, offering quality products from recognizable brands. With practicality, affordability, and reviews by Costco members at the top of our priority list, we've scoured Costco's inventory and chosen some home office gadgets that we feel are essential to everybody who has a dedicated home workspace. Whether you're a remote employee or run your own business out of the house, let's explore some of the necessary gadgets Costco's home office section has available to purchase.

While there are a lot of desk add-ons and gadgets to help with back pain throughout the workday, a desk riser is a piece of equipment everyone should consider. They're less expensive than many full-fledged standing desks, and they're a great way to add functionality to your current desk. The ApexDesk ZT electric desk riser is priced at $250 at Costco, and more than 730 customers have given it a 5-star review for an average of 4.5 stars. It's fully motorized and even has a USB port integrated into its design. It comes fully assembled and provides enough space for two monitors.

Of course, such a gadget may not be right for your needs. Desk risers can make a desk feel cluttered, and they don't necessarily tuck away well when they're not in use. Some home office workers may prefer to forego the benefits of the ApexDesk ZT and jump right into a standing desk. But for those looking to add the option to sit or stand throughout the day without completely redoing their home office setup, the ApexDesk ZT electric desk riser is essential.

Even though the working world has become increasingly digital, it still needs reliable printers. The Brother MFC-L3765DW all-in-one color laser printer at $460 stands out because it can fulfill other home office needs as well. It's capable of color printing up to 27 pages per minute, but it's also a copy machine, scanner, and fax machine. The scanning and fax functionalities may be of particular interest to those who often need to convert print documents to digital. It's rated incredibly well among Costco members, with a total of 330 reviews and nearly 250 of them being perfect 5-star reviews for an average of 4.5 stars.

The Brother MFC-L3765DW has a 3.5-inch color touchscreen that provides access to documents you store on Google Drive and Dropbox, and with the Brother Mobile Connect app, you can print and scan from mobile devices. But a color laser printer like this may be overkill for some users. Both color and black laser cartridges can get relatively expensive. One reviewer does praise, however, the convenience and affordability of Brother print cartridges relative to other big-name printer brands. But this printer can take up some significant desk space as well, so if you deal with mostly digital documents or have a small home workspace, there are more appropriate all-in-one printer options available to consider.

Lighting can be one of the more subtle contributors to a solid workday. Ensuring your home work environment is comfortable from a visual standpoint can keep you more productive, which is why keeping smart light bulbs in your lamps and overhead lighting is important. Costco has a pack of four Feit Electric Wi-Fi smart bulbs for $25. They're LED light bulbs with both adjustable colors and tunable white balance, allowing you to shift your office from daylight tones to warmer tones as the day progresses.

Another benefit of outfitting your home office with smart bulbs is automation. You can set schedules and timers to adjust the room's lighting automatically. To tap into the Feit Electric smart bulbs fully, you'll need to connect them to your home's Wi-Fi network. One shortcoming of these particular smart bulbs is that they work only with 2.4GHz networks. That shouldn't be problematic for most users, but those with routers that default to 5GHz will need to adjust some network settings. More than 3,000 Costco members have given these smart bulbs a 5-star rating with a 4.2-star average, making them a trustworthy option.

Maintaining focus during the workday means eliminating unnecessary interruptions, and keeping a compact refrigerator close by is one way to do that. With the Danby 2.6 cubic feet refrigerator, you can keep lunch, snacks, and drinks within arm's reach, preventing trips to the kitchen throughout the day. At 27 inches tall, it's designed to fit under a desk, or to set alongside one and provide a little additional surface area for items like coffee makers or printers. The interior is designed to store tall items like bottled water, and LED lighting makes it easy to find what you're looking for.

But if there's a limitation to this refrigerator, it's capacity. The Danby 2.6 cubic feet fridge isn't going to house enough goodies to last you through the entire week. It is, however, a great way to store your lunch and refreshments, particularly if you lose focus easily. Adding a refrigerator like this to your home office is also going to introduce some ambient noise. But if breaking for food throughout the day is a greater distraction than a little background noise, the Danby 2.6 cubic feet refrigerator is a well-priced necessity at $200. Reviewers have given it a 4.2-star average rating, with nearly 250 customers giving it 5 stars.

There are a lot of home office gadgets out there, but many of them are the kinds of products most people could go without during the workday. In selecting gadgets we feel every home office should have, our main focus was on products that can truly be put to use. Devices such as robot vacuums, for example, can come in handy in a home office, but they also produce a lot of noise, and the downsides are often greater than the benefits of such products.

We also wanted to ensure we presented value to your home office environment. Each item we've selected addresses a specific and common need in a home office. We chose products with recognizable brand names or several 5-star reviews from Costco shoppers, ensuring quality and high potential for longevity. Cost-to-value was our final consideration. A great product is even more enticing when it's priced right, and we selected products that are priced well among their competition.