The Best Home-Office Furniture and Supplies of 2025

Pen

Top pick

With its fast-drying ink, this is our go-to pen for everyday writing on any kind of paper.

If you need a pen to take notes during a teleconference or to hastily scribble down an idea, the Uni-ball Jetstream RT is the one to grab.

It’s widely available, and it created some of the smoothest, quickest-drying lines in our testing. It doesn’t bleed, it doesn’t skip, it doesn’t feather. It dries indelibly and so quickly that left-handed people can use this pen without worrying about smudging.

The Jetstream RT also requires very little pressure, so once you get a feel for it, you can write quickly because it pretty much glides over the page, especially if you write in cursive.

It comes in sizes from 0.38 mm up to 1.0 mm, with a bunch of different bodies in different styles.

For more, read our guide to the best pens.

Mechanical pencil

Top pick

This metal pencil is a pleasure to use, thanks to its smooth grip section and satisfying, solid knock.

At under $10, the Blick Premier Mechanical Pencil is a stellar value. It writes smoothly, and in our tests, the lead never snapped because this model has a lead-cushioning mechanism to prevent breakage.

Most other retractable options require you to hold down the knock (usually the top of the eraser cap) while pressing down on the tip to retract it. But the Blick Premier pencil extends or retracts the lead sleeve instantly, with a single click, similar to a retractable pen. This mechanism helps you avoid the issue that is all too common with other retractable mechanical pencils: mistakenly advancing the lead when you intended to retract the tip.

For more, read our guide to the best mechanical pencils.

Notebooks and notepads

After interviewing experts, researching over 100 notebooks, and writing zealously in 34 of them side by side over several weeks, we have picks in a number of sizes and styles.

Top pick

This notebook is a pleasure to use, thanks to its sturdy yet lightweight cardstock cover, excellent paper quality, and lie-flat design. The medium size can serve a wide range of purposes.

With page numbers, index pages, two ribbon bookmarks, and sticker labels, this notebook has all the bells and whistles. It simply feels a bit more special than competing notebooks.

With thick, smooth, perforated paper, this notepad is a fine companion for note-taking.

We recommend the Apica Premium C.D. Notebook (A5) for people who want a softcover notebook that is the size of a trade paperback book. The smaller, A5 size doesn’t take up too much room on a desk, and its lie-flat design allows you to easily write on both sides of each sheet. The paper is thick and smooth (but not plasticky), and it works well with a variety of pens, including inky fountain pens, with little feathering and minimal ghosting.

The Leuchtturm1917 Hardcover Notebook Classic (A5) is our top pick for a hardcover notebook that helps you organize and keep track of your thoughts and ideas. It features tiny details, such as index pages and labels for archiving, two thick ribbon bookmarks, labels for the spine and title page, page numbers, and a sturdy back pocket.

The Maruman Mnemosyne N166 Steno Pad (A5) is a medium-size notepad that’s easy to flip through to refer back to your notes. Because this notebook is top-bound, lefty writers should find it easier to use than other formats. The paper is smooth and thick, yet slightly translucent. Inky pens (rollerball, gel, and fountain pens) glided across it nicely in our tests. And it has enough tooth to make writing with a pencil or a ballpoint pleasant.

For a variety of other styles that we recommend, read our guide to the best notebooks and notepads.

Paper planner

Top pick

This planner is a cross between a simple calendar and a beautiful journal. And you can fill it with a range of inserts for any type of planning.

This more-compact version can fit in large pockets or small bags.

Of all the planners we considered, the Traveler’s Company Traveler’s Notebook was the most popular with our testers.

The simple leather folio holds thin notebooks (secured with an elastic band), and you can invest in whatever notebook inserts fit your planning needs. It’s the only system we found that works for all types of planning.

This is the original Traveler’s Notebook, a style of planner often interchangeably called the Midori (the company’s name before 2015). You can find many other notebooks of this style inspired by the original (sometimes called “fauxdoris”), and some of them are great options if you like more colors and patterns.

For a variety of other styles that we recommend, read our guide to the best paper planners.

This article was edited by Ben Keough and Erica Ogg.