Building an Actually Good Ikea Desk
If you browse r/battlestations you'll see tons of examples of Ikea desks, consisting of some kind of Ikea countertop and an Alex drawer or two. I wanted a large desk and nothing I could find sufficed so once all the parts were back in stock I went to Ikea and bought what I would need.
I assembled the desks in an L configuration with Alex drawers on each end and 2 legs opposite of the drawers and 1 more in the middle of each desk. I was hesitant about the laminate countertops but the finish is very convincing and they are very solid. They are definitely worth the steep discount. The drawers are fine, the paint gets scuffed very easily and the rubber feet provided to let the counter sit on aren't the best solution. Otherwise, they are very stylish and perfectly functional. I was nervous about the height of the desk but it turned out perfect. The legs were more supportive than I expected and the adjustable feet are a nice touch. But even with the feet I found it hard to keep the whole desk as stable as I would have liked. The desks would get a little crooked with the drawers and each other in the L. Also one of the desks appeared to be a little warped, only sitting on one side of the drawers. To improve this I went to Home Depot and bought a few more parts.
To improve the stability between the desks I got 2 large mending plates and screwed them below the desks. This accomplished most of the goals, making it much harder to move the desks by combining their masses. 
To prevent the desks from coming unaligned with the drawers I used the corner braces to mount the drawers to the undersides of the desks. Just 2 braces were enough to hold everything in place. Additionally, small mending plates could be used to add even more security, but I found them unnecessary for that purpose. 
Finally, I used the smaller straps to straighten out my warped countertop. I screwed them to the outside of the drawers and countertop, while someone pushed down on the countertop. This completely removed the warp from the countertop. There was a slight warp on the other desk but I determined it wasn't necessary. This desk worked out even better than expected. Unlike what I had read online, the weight of the countertops did not provide the stability I desired. But once I made the improvements, the desk was incredibly stable and I would highly recommend this method to anyone doing the same.
