The details that decide it.
20 construction details ELS settles before fabrication — keyed by the problem they solve, not by style, and written from ELS's own coordination standard.
Guidance for planning, not a construction drawing — always confirm dimensions against your approved project drawings.
Shadow gap at the floor, not a plinth
Problem: A pale carcass that sits directly on the floor shows the mop line — and it shows it at the eye level of someone seated, which is where people actually look.
ELS does: Lift the whole run and let a shadow gap, not a plinth, meet the floor.
DurabilityHandleless grooves in a cooking zone
Problem: The finger groove of a handleless front collects cooking grease and dust. In humidity that becomes a permanent dark line across pale oak.
ELS does: Specify an aluminium profile pull rather than a groove routed into the board.
Dimensions & tolerancesLow contrast leaves nothing to hide behind
Problem: A 1 mm variation in a shadow gap that walnut would swallow is plainly visible on white and pale oak.
ELS does: Tighten the setting-out tolerance before the palette is signed off, not after the doors arrive.
Moisture & wet zonesCarcass base where cleaners wet-mop daily
Problem: Contract cleaners wet-mop daily. A timber skirting base wicks that water and swells within the first year.
ELS does: Stand every carcass on a sealed aluminium or stone plinth.
Services & M&ECable routes fixed at drawing stage
Problem: Grommets cut on site split the laminate edge, and the damage stays visible for the life of the desk.
ELS does: Fix cable routes for meeting tables and reception desks at carcass drawing stage.
Moisture & wet zonesEdge banding is the whole detail on a white door
Problem: A PVC glue line goes grey within a year in a wet kitchen, and on a white door that line is the first thing anyone sees.
ELS does: Specify laser or PUR edging wherever humidity reaches.
Material behaviourTall doors need balanced construction
Problem: Entry-grade fronts arrive flat and go out of flat as the board takes up moisture.
ELS does: Specify balanced construction on any door over 900 mm tall.
DurabilityPlated brass fails in coastal humid air
Problem: The lacquer lifts and the base metal blooms.
ELS does: Specify PVD champagne on stainless or anodised aluminium, brushed rather than polished.
Material behaviourGloss telegraphs substrate flatness
Problem: Any sheen above satin reveals every imperfection in the panel beneath it, and grazing light makes it unmissable.
ELS does: Put sheen above satin only on balanced-construction panel, and never where light grazes along the run.
Material behaviourCream is a match, not a colour name
Problem: The lacquer door, the quartz top and the wall paint will not agree across three suppliers — each reads 'cream' differently.
ELS does: Nominate one master sample and match every trade to it.
Material behaviourDeclare one grain direction per run
Problem: Adjacent doors read as different products once side-lit, even from the same batch.
ELS does: Declare one grain direction across a run, and keep one batch across a single visual field.
Services & M&EEvery enclosed meeting room needs one absorbent plane
Problem: Dark stone, glass partitions and plasterboard form an acoustically hard box, and video calls clip.
ELS does: Give every enclosed meeting room at least one absorbent plane.
JunctionsCurtain pocket in a coffered ceiling
Problem: A curtain track screwed under a finished ceiling is visible, collects dust on its face, and leaves no room for an LED wash — so the ceiling and the window never read as one designed plane.
ELS does: Form a curtain pocket into the coffered ceiling, sized at construction stage, with the LED recess and thermal access coordinated into the same detail.
JunctionsInternal corners in a panelled wall
Problem: A mitred internal corner in veneer opens up as the panels move, and once it opens there is no way to replace one panel without disturbing its neighbour.
ELS does: Use a controlled butt or reveal at the internal corner rather than a mitre, and detail it so a single panel can be replaced.
Moisture & wet zonesVeneered window sill corners against condensation
Problem: A timber-veneered sill turns an external corner right where condensation collects, and any concealed timber edge left unsealed there swells and lifts the veneer.
ELS does: Seal every concealed timber edge at the sill corner and detail a moisture separation, confirming the overhang and joint sequence before fabrication.
Material behaviourOne declared grain direction across a run
Problem: Run a timber front with the grain going whichever way each door was cut, and the moment the run is side-lit the adjacent doors read as different products.
ELS does: Declare one grain direction for the whole run before production, and match every leaf to it.
DurabilityTextured, not smooth, matte black in a kitchen
Problem: Smooth matte-black hardware shows every fingerprint in a humid kitchen, and the marks return minutes after they are wiped.
ELS does: Specify a textured matte black rather than a smooth one wherever hands land — pulls, taps, the frame of a glass door.
Material behaviourCream is a match, not a colour name
Problem: The lacquer door, the quartz top and the wall paint come from three suppliers, and their 'cream' will not agree — the mismatch shows up only once they are installed side by side.
ELS does: Nominate one master sample and approve every other cream against it on site, under the site's own lighting, before anything is ordered.
Material behaviourGloss telegraphs a flat panel's every wave
Problem: Any sheen above satin on an unbalanced panel shows the substrate's waves, and they appear at eye level on site — not in the workshop where the panel lay flat.
ELS does: Put any gloss on a balanced-construction panel, and never place a glossy face where light grazes along it.
DurabilityPVD champagne, never plated brass, near the coast
Problem: Plated brass fails in coastal humid air — the lacquer lifts and the base metal blooms — and gold-toned hardware holds fingerprints longer than any other finish.
ELS does: Specify PVD champagne on stainless steel or anodised aluminium, brushed rather than polished.