Reply To: Dust Seal: Quaint or Mandatory?

Another reason for a lip on the lid of a chest, in general, is that without the lip, if the top isn’t perfectly flat, you will see a waggling gap between the lid and top of the chest. In this chest, the top is a frame and panel, which helps, but even still, a lip will help. On many chests on which the top is pretty much just a board, the lipping becomes more important for hiding gaps over time and can be incorporated into a decorative moulding.

My guess is that you can add this feature later when resources become available and can use the chest in the mean time.