Kitchen Renovation in Dubai: Finishing Work in the Right Order

Kitchen renovation services in Dubai: what we do and what we leave to others

Our kitchen renovation services cover the surfaces around the kitchen, not the kitchen itself. The table splits a typical job between us and the other trades.

We work with whoever you have chosen for the rest. We agree the order, tell the fitter, the plumber and the electrician what we need from them (a sound base, a marked extractor opening, a finished floor height) and come back when it is our turn. We do not sell cabinets, worktops or appliances, and we do not fit them.

Keeping the finishing in one team has a practical side. When separate firms tile, paint and build the ceiling, a scratch on a new splashback or a hole through a fresh membrane turns into an argument about whose it was. When one team does all of it, there is one quote, one programme and one person to call.

The order of work in a kitchen renovation

A kitchen is built from the inside out, and each stage needs the one before it finished and dry. This is the usual order. Your quote lists the stages that apply to your kitchen.

Two points need settling early. The first is the floor. Some kitchens are tiled before the units go in and some are tiled around them, and the choice sets how high the finished floor sits, and so whether the dishwasher and the fridge fit where the plan puts them. We agree it in writing with the fitter before anything is laid. The second is paint. It goes on twice, once before the units and once after, because a fitter's trolley leaves marks on a finished wall.

The written quote carries a programme with these stages in order. We do not give a number of days on this page, because the time follows the scope, the delivery of the tiles and units, and the hours the building allows.

Refresh or full renovation: what does your kitchen need?

Plenty of kitchens that look finished are only tired. The cabinet boxes are sound, the layout works, and what has gone is the surface: doors, grout, a splashback, the paint. A refresh keeps the layout and changes what you see. A full renovation starts again. The table shows what a refresh fixes and what tells you it will not be enough.

For a small kitchen renovation in Dubai, the first question is how much of the old kitchen can stay. In a small room the surfaces are most of what you see, so new doors, a new splashback and a repainted ceiling change how it looks without moving a pipe. We tell you at the inspection whether a refresh is enough, and we do not sell a rebuild to a kitchen that does not need one.

Cabinet doors: refinish or replace

Painted doors last when the surface is sound and the preparation is done properly. Laminate, MDF and thermofoil are slick, so they need a primer designed to grip them. Use the wrong one and the paint lifts at the edges within months. We take the handles off instead of masking round them. Paint cannot rescue a door whose board has swollen, usually near the sink, or whose laminate is lifting, and we tell you so at the visit. Our page on painting doors, cabinets and furniture covers the method.

Kitchen design Dubai: the choices that change the finishing work

Kitchen design in Dubai is mostly cabinet layout, and that belongs to a kitchen company or a designer. We do not draw kitchen layouts and we do not supply cabinets, so we price the finishing from the drawings you give us. A few design choices land on our side of the job, and they are easier to settle before anything is ordered than after the tiles arrive.

Wall paint and colour

Near the hob and sink, a washable satin finish wipes clean in a way matt does not, which is why we recommend it for kitchens. Choose the colour with a cabinet door and a splashback tile held against the wall, in the kitchen's own light. Daylight and downlights show the same colour differently.

Splashback

The height, the size of the tile, and whether it runs up to the ceiling or stops at the wall cupboards set how much tile is needed and how many joints you will clean. Behind the hob, tile is usually the better choice, because grease collects on the wall there and paint does not hold on it. Tile types and styles are on our wall and kitchen tiles page.

Floor

Tile size and grout colour decide how much cleaning the floor needs, and our floor tiles design page sets out the choices. What matters for the kitchen itself is where the floor ends: the threshold, the level at the doorway and the height under the units, all settled before the first tile is fixed.

Ceiling and lighting

Spotlights, a lowered section over the cooking area and a lit edge all have to be planned before the ceiling goes up, together with the opening for the extractor. A kitchen ceiling should be moisture-resistant board with a plain, flat finish, and deep recesses are best avoided because they collect grease. The boards and finishes are explained on our false ceilings page.

Open-plan kitchens

If the kitchen is open to the living area, the ceiling and the paint have to carry across with no line where one job stops and the next begins. We can repaint the living area in the same visit, so the colour, the sheen and the ceiling match on both sides.

Kitchen renovation cost in Dubai: what moves the price

We do not publish a price for a whole kitchen renovation. A figure that is not tied to a scope tells you very little. Search for kitchen renovation cost Dubai or kitchen remodel cost and the figures you find differ several times over. They are rarely wrong. They count different things: one includes cabinets and appliances, another is labour only, one assumes a refresh for a rental and another a made-to-measure kitchen with stone worktops. Many do not say whether VAT is in the figure.

The table shows who sets each line of a kitchen renovation and what moves it.

How we price our part

The inspection costs AED 100. The written quote that follows lists each surface or task as its own line, with the products, the price before 5% VAT, the programme and the warranty terms. There is no per-square-metre rate for kitchen tiling on this site, because the state of the base, the access and the waterproofing move the price more than the area does. Our bathroom and kitchen tiles page explains how a tiling quote is built, and the painting cost page does the same for paint.

Keeping quotes comparable

Ask every firm the same question: what is in the price, and what is left out? A quote that includes cabinets and appliances cannot sit beside one that covers labour alone. Split each quote by trade and compare like with like. A low figure that leaves out degreasing, priming or the membrane is not a saving. It moves the cost to later.

Permission before you start: landlord, building and paperwork

Who has to say yes depends on who owns the kitchen and on what you change.

We deal with building paperwork, including NOCs where a building requires them. Send the building or community name with your first message, and we list what the building will want from you.

If you rent

The tenancy law, Law No. 26 of 2007, is direct about changes. Under Article 19 a tenant may not make changes, or carry out restoration or maintenance works, unless the landlord permits it, and then only after obtaining the licences required from the competent official entities. Under Article 21 the tenant returns the property as it was received, apart from ordinary wear and tear and damage beyond the tenant's control.

In plain terms, get the landlord's permission in writing before a kitchen renovation starts, and ask what the contract says about putting things back at the end. This is a summary, not legal advice, and your tenancy contract has the final word. A landlord or agent can ask us for a written scope and price to go with the request.

Kitchens in apartments and villas

In a Dubai kitchen renovation the building has a say, and the kind of home changes what it says.

Apartments

An apartment kitchen sits against the neighbours. Drainage and extraction run through shared risers, and the unit below is under your floor. Water is the main risk, so a floor with a drain or a machine connection gets the same membrane as a bathroom, laid and tested before tile. See waterproofing for how it is done. Lifts and corridors need protecting, waste has to leave by the building's route, and the working hours are the building's. Time the deliveries of tile and units to the work, because a small flat has nowhere to store them.

For the rest of the flat, our apartment painting page covers painting by size and room. A bathroom in the same flat follows the same building rules, and our bathroom renovation in Dubai page covers it.

Villas

A villa kitchen usually has a larger floor and longer wall runs, and many villas have a second kitchen or prep kitchen and a maid's room with wet points of their own. Each gets the same treatment as the main kitchen. When the kitchen is one part of a bigger job, such as a repaint, new floors or new ceilings, plan it with the rest, because the trades arrive once and the colours match. See villa painting for the whole-house side. Our villa renovation page covers the order of work across the house. For how kitchens, bathrooms and the other finishing trades fit together across a whole home, see our home renovation page.

Choosing a kitchen renovation company in Dubai: what to ask

Kitchen renovation companies in Dubai come in three kinds: firms with their own crews, contractors who hand each trade to someone else, and kitchen showrooms that add building work on top. Any of them can be good. The difference is who answers when the floor sits at the wrong height. Put these eight questions to any kitchen renovation contractor Dubai homeowners are considering, including us.

1. Ask which trades they do themselves. Ours are tiling, waterproofing, ceilings and painting, done by our own employed crews. A company that says it does everything is passing some of it on. Ask to whom.
2. Ask for the scope as a list, by trade, with what is in and what is out. Cabinets, worktops and appliances should be named as someone's job.
3. Ask for the programme in stages, not one finishing date. The stages should follow the order of work above.
4. Ask who will speak to the building management, and who books the lift. If nobody is named, you will be the one doing it.
5. Ask who owns the floor height and the splashback line. If nobody does, the fitter and the tiler will find out on site.
6. Ask to see the trade licence. The company named on it should be the one that signed the quote.
7. Ask what the warranty covers. Ours is one year on our own workmanship, starting at handover. It does not cover cabinets, appliances, plumbing or electrical work done by other trades.
8. Ask how the home is protected and how the kitchen is signed off. Floors, lifts and doorways should be covered, and there should be a snag walk at the end.

Kitchen renovation Dubai: areas we cover and how to book

Our kitchen renovation services Dubai-wide cover apartments, villas and townhouses. We do not work in other emirates. Name the building or villa community and the floor when you write, and we check access before we visit.

To book, send photos on WhatsApp at +971 55 209 9785 or use the quote form. The useful photos are the kitchen from the doorway, the floor, the ceiling, the cabinet doors and the wall behind the hob, plus the kitchen company's drawing if you have one. We reply with what the photos let us price and what needs the inspection first.