A desk with a modesty panel to the floor: nobody looks under your desk
In short: a modesty panel closes off your desk on the visitor’s side. On most desks it stops at knee height. Ours, SaphirSHIELD, runs to the floor: whoever sits opposite you sees no legs, no cables and no bag. It’s available for the DeskPRO and DeskPURE in every size, built as a fixed part of the desk.
- To the floor, not just to the knee. The panel hides everything under the top.
- Faceted like a cut gemstone, 19 mm thick, in satin graphite black (RAL 9011).
- For the DeskPRO and DeskPURE in every size from 160 x 80 to 240 x 108 cm, and for the corner desk on request.
- Cables stay out of sight: in place of the cable compartment, a metal cable tray sits under the top. Power strip and 5 m of fabric cable included.
- Price 4.000 € to 5.000 € depending on desk size, in addition to the desk. Made, delivered and fitted together with the desk.
What is a modesty panel on a desk?
A modesty panel is a panel at the front of the desk, the side where your visitor sits. It goes by several names: knee panel, kneehole panel, footwell panel or simply front panel. They all mean the same thing: it blocks the view under the desk.
The idea is an old one. The term “modesty panel” has been on record since the 1920s (Merriam-Webster), and panels like these came to office desks with the rise of the secretarial office. Today it’s less about decency and more about calm: a desk you can’t see under looks tidy and finished.
Not to be confused with a desk screen on top of the desk. Those are usually dividers in acrylic or felt that screen two desks from each other in an open-plan office. Here we’re talking about the front that faces the person opposite.
Why are executive desks closed at the front?
Because an executive desk rarely seats just one. Across from you sits a client, a job applicant, a business partner, or someone about to sign a contract. And they don’t only look at the top. They look underneath too: at legs, shoes, cables, the bag on the floor, the computer under the desk.
“There are two people across from me at most. Clients, or people I’m in talks with.”
Managing director of a property management firm, phone call, October 2026
It matters most when your desk stands free in the room. Then the front is no longer a back that faces the wall. It’s the side everyone sees first when they walk in.
“I’d need the back panel. I don’t want to leave it open at the front.”
Customer from Switzerland, desk free-standing in the room, chose SaphirSHIELD
Philipp once put it like this in the workshop, as two desks with the panel were being finished:
“With this, everything is clean, there are no cables to be seen, and you can even slip your shoes off now and then.”
Philipp Strobel, founder, in the workshop of our partner joinery
Knee-height panel, or a panel to the floor?
Most panels you’ll find in the shops are retrofit parts. They’re clamped or screwed under the top and stop at about knee height. Everything below stays in view.
| Retrofit knee-height panel | SaphirSHIELD | |
|---|---|---|
| Height | To about knee height, feet and floor stay in view | To the floor |
| Fixing | Clamped or screwed on, the fit depends on the desk | Made for your desk and fitted by us |
| Cables | Stay as they are | Cable tray under the top, only one cable leaves the desk |
| Look | A flat panel, often melamine or metal | Faceted like a gemstone, satin graphite black |
| Price | Around 60 € to 200 € | 4.000 € to 5.000 €, depending on desk size |
Prices for retrofit panels: retailers’ figures, as of October 2026.
To be honest: if you only want to hide your legs and your desk stands against a wall, a simple knee-height panel will do. SaphirSHIELD is meant for the case where the desk is the centre of the room and the front should look as good as the top.
SaphirSHIELD: a modesty panel like a cut gemstone
The panel isn’t simply a board. It’s cut in facets, like a sapphire. Depending on the light and the angle, each facet looks a little different. That turns the closed front into part of the design, not a black block.
- Material: 19 mm MDF, lacquered in RAL 9011 graphite black, satin. It’s the same tone as the fronts of our sideboards.
- The gap: we deliberately leave about 5 mm between the top and the panel. Butted up tight, every small movement in the wood would show. With the gap, the whole thing looks right.
- With every finish: the panel is always graphite black and goes with Golden Timber, Smoked Amber, Midnight Noir and Deep Walnut.
And where do the cables go?
Normally every one of our desks has a cable compartment with a flap under the top. With SaphirSHIELD it has to go, because the panel needs the space. In its place we screw a metal cable tray under the top, about 1.20 m long. It holds the power strip, power adapters and cables. The power strip and 5 m of fabric cable come with it, just as they do with the cable compartment.
You can only see the tray if you look under the desk from your own side. The person opposite sees none of it, because the panel hides everything. And if the last cable to the socket should disappear as well, there’s the CableSLOT cable channel in the leg.
The original: a corner desk in Tyrol
The sapphire form didn’t start on the drawing board. It started with a customer. Stefan Pop, who owns a car dealership in Tyrol, had taken over a new showroom and wanted a desk that made an impression. His idea: to translate a sapphire into a desk. We turned it into a corner desk, built as a bespoke piece.
“It really does look like a sapphire. Whatever angle you look at it from, it looks really elegant. And in real life, even more so.”
Stefan Pop, owner of a car dealership in Tyrol
Just as important to him as the look is the moment at the desk:
“When they come over to my desk and sign the purchase contract, the customer will be comfortable here too, because they simply feel the quality all over again.”
Stefan Pop
He had asked for the end of December. We delivered more than a month early. That one desk became SaphirSHIELD: the same sapphire form, now a fixed part of the range for the DeskPRO and DeskPURE. For the ArcPURE corner desk or a custom size, we still make the panel on request.
From the workshop: two DeskPRO desks with the panel
The first two DeskPRO desks with the sapphire panel were ordered by a building contractor, one in walnut, one in black. In the video you can see the panel being fitted to the desk. That is the really difficult part: the facets have to meet the top at every edge, and the gap has to be the same all the way round.
What does a desk with a modesty panel cost?
SaphirSHIELD comes in addition to the desk. The price depends on the desk size:
| Desk size | SaphirSHIELD |
|---|---|
| 160 x 80 cm | 4.000 € |
| 180 x 90 cm | 4.300 € |
| 200 x 100 cm | 4.500 € |
| 220 x 100 cm | 4.800 € |
| 240 x 108 cm | 5.000 € |
Prices incl. VAT, as of October 2026. You’ll find the desk itself under DeskPRO and DeskPURE.
That’s a lot of money for a panel, no question. What you get for it is a part made for your desk, fitted in the workshop and installed on site. For businesses there’s business leasing (Germany only): the panel alone for a 160 cm desk then comes to around 53 € a month ex VAT over 84 months.
Who is SaphirSHIELD worth it for, and who can do without it?
It’s worth it if someone regularly sits across from you at your desk, if the desk stands free in the room and is seen from the front, or if you want a desk nobody else has.
You don’t need it if your desk stands against a wall and you’re the only one who works at it. Then the cable compartment that comes as standard already keeps things clean, and you can save yourself the panel.
Not sure? Call Philipp and send a photo of your room. He’ll tell you honestly whether the panel makes sense for you.
Built by master craftsmen in Germany · delivered and fitted with the desk · 5-year guarantee
Frequently asked questions about the modesty panel
What is the panel at the front of a desk called?
Which desks does SaphirSHIELD fit?
What happens to the cable compartment?
What colour is the panel?
Can I retrofit the panel?
Can I combine SaphirSHIELD with all the add-ons?
Why is there a gap between the top and the panel?
What’s the difference between a modesty panel and a desk screen?
Worth a read: A corner desk: which size fits your room? With a room planner to try out.
Philipp Strobel is a qualified automotive engineer who brings an engineer’s way of thinking to running a business. He has been developing products in wood since 2017, and since 2024, with EDELHOLZ, desks for business owners. He developed the sapphire form together with Stefan Pop, for Stefan’s showroom.
