A practical guide to clearer details, better coordination, and fewer surprises
Millwork can be one of the most rewarding parts of a project. The difference between a smooth shop-drawing review process and a painful one often comes down to how clearly the design intent was documented from the start.
The Goal is to understand:
- When a custom millwork section is required
- When an existing standard detail is sufficient
- When a standard detail needs to be modified to align with the design intent
Clear decisions here help avoid misinterpretation, costly revisions, and shop drawings that don’t align with the design.
The Importance of Sequencing: Think Long Game
Millwork doesn’t exist in isolation—it lives alongside furniture, appliances, power, and data.
Think of the millwork details within shop drawings as a step-by-step instruction manual—it explains exactly how the piece is assembled, whether standard or customized.
If a condition is not detailed in your drawing set, the millworker won’t have a section, detail, or elevation to reference which often means they will fill in the gaps themselves—and sometimes incorrectly.
Best practices:
- Minimize assumptions left to the millworker to try and interpret on their own.
- During shop drawing review, treat any inconsistency between your details and theirs as a red flag and investigate further.
- If there isn’t a 1:1 relationship between your drawings and the shop drawings, pause and verify that all conditions are fully coordinated.
Countertop Materials and Thicknesses
Countertop selections dramatically affect millwork sections, so accuracy matters.
3 cm quartz
- Should be shown as a solid 1-1/2” slab
- No mitered or returned edge condition is required here unless your project specific design intent calls for it.
2 cm quartz
- Thinner overall and requires either a mitered edge condition, or a built-up edge condition
Acrylic solid surface
- Available in various thicknesses
- Ensure the specified thickness is represented accurately in millwork sections
Plastic laminate (PLAM)
- Typically has an eased or rolled edge
- Installed over a thinner substrate with MDF built-up core elements
- When backsplashes or side splashes are specified make sure to show them clearly and consider dashed lines with a note to “Refer to Elevation” when multiple conditions exist
Toe Kicks: Don’t Leave This Vague
Toe kicks are often overlooked, but they carry both visual and material implications.
Too often they’re assumed to be rubber base, labeled generically in elevation as “scheduled base” or not actually scheduled anywhere at all.
There are two clear ways to handle toe kicks correctly:
- Call It Out in the Detail
- If you’re referencing an existing standard millwork detail, explicitly note the toe kick condition or conditions.
- Call It Out in Elevations
- Clearly label toe kick materials in elevation views.
- Do not leave this open to interpretation.
Additional coordination tips:
- If the millwork includes wood grain, show grain direction in elevations and ensure to specify that the toe kick grain runs in the same direction as the vertical face of your cabinet door.
Coordinating Drawing Elements with Furniture, Equipment and Electrical
When developing millwork details within construction documents, it’s critical to think ahead to the moment you set the finished millwork in place. Will the specified microwave fit within the cabinetry opening provided? Is that coffee maker too tall to fit underneath the upper cabinet? Is there power and data above the counter for the printer? These are all critical elements to plan ahead for and fully coordinate within the construction documents.
- Mounting heights for outlets must be shown within the document set and coordinated with millwork details, counter heights and any equipment being installed within the millwork. These heights often get missed or don’t align with millwork elevations—double-check coordination
- Draw every aspect of millwork to scale—including countertops—to ensure clear coordination. This will allow the designer to accurately lay out any undercounter equipment or furniture to ensure the layout is viable. Power and data requirements can be coordinated at this time to align with the planned equipment.
Additional Review Tips and Best Practices
- Start with the standard detail library already loaded in the Revit template
- Modify as needed rather than reinventing details
- Use available residential and commercial detail resources for more unique conditions
- Line weights matter: thicker lines for cut elements, thinner lines for elements beyond
- Use dashed lines to show items beyond or furniture shown for reference in elevations and details
Final Thought
Good millwork documentation is about clarity, foresight, and coordination. The more intentional the details are upfront, the smoother the shop drawing process—and the closer the finished product will be to the design intent.
When in doubt, draw it, label it, and don’t leave it to interpretation.
