RSK Renovation — Premium Renovation & Fit-Out, Dubai

Overview

A Cabinetry Job? It Is Mostly a Services Job.

New appliances need circuits the old kitchen never had. An island needs a water supply and a waste run under the floor. A tall oven housing changes where the extraction duct can go.

Decide the cabinetry first and you end up designing around problems you created.

RSK handles kitchen renovation across Dubai villas and apartments, with cabinetry made in workshop rather than bought as modules.

Kitchen Services at a Glance

Strip-out: removal of existing cabinetry, worktops, tiling and appliances

Plumbing: supply and waste to sink, dishwasher, island and filtered tap

Electrical: dedicated appliance circuits, socket layout, lighting, board capacity check

Extraction: ducted or recirculating, confirmed against the building

Waterproofing: sink and dishwasher zone

Cabinetry: workshop-made carcasses, doors and appliance housings

Worktops: templating, fabrication and fitting

Splashback: tile, glass or stone

Flooring and wall finishes: screed, tiling, skirting

Appliance installation: fitting and commissioning

Get a Written BOQ

What It Involves

What Kitchen Renovation Involves

The order of work matters more in a kitchen than almost anywhere else, because each stage locks in decisions for the next.

Services come first, and they are set by the layout. Cabinetry is built to the appliances. Worktops cannot be templated until the cabinets are installed and level. Change something late and the sequence has to unwind.

That is why a kitchen project is largely decided at design stage, and why a contractor asking detailed questions early is doing the right thing.

Project Types

Types of Kitchen Renovation

Door and worktop replacement

Existing carcasses kept, doors and worktop replaced. Fast and economical where the boxes are sound. Not an option if the carcasses have swollen at the base.

Full replacement, same layout

New cabinetry, worktop and appliances with services staying broadly where they are. The most common kitchen project, and the most predictable to price.

Full renovation with layout change

Sink, hob or island moved. This means new supply and waste runs, new circuits and often new extraction routing, which is where the cost steps up.

New kitchen in a bare shell

No existing services to work from. Everything is set out from scratch, which gives full freedom on layout and needs the design settled before any first fix begins.

Design Decisions

Layout, Materials, Extraction and Power

Getting the layout right

Layout is decided first by where water, waste and power can reasonably go, and only then by how you cook.

Galley — two runs facing each other, efficient in narrow apartments.
L-shape — works in most spaces, leaves room for a table.
U-shape — maximum storage and worktop, needs width.
Island — adds worktop and seating, needs services under the slab or a raised floor.
Peninsula — most of the island's benefit without a separate services run.

Many Dubai households want a closed preparation kitchen alongside an open serving kitchen — that changes extraction, appliance split and storage, so it is decided at design stage.

Cabinetry materials that suit Dubai

Humidity decides the carcass. Taste decides the door.

Carcass: moisture-resistant MDF and plywood hold up far better than particle board in a room combining humidity, water and AC cycling. Cut edges sealed, especially at the sink and dishwasher.

Doors: laminate (hard wearing), acrylic (high gloss), PU lacquer (any colour, repairable), veneer (real wood), melamine (utility areas).

Worktops: quartz, granite, porcelain, solid surface or stainless steel.

Edge banding quality matters more than most expect — a poorly bonded edge lifts within a year and cannot be repaired neatly.

Extraction, power and plumbing

Extraction is the part apartments get wrong most often. Many Dubai towers have no duct route to outside, which limits you to a recirculating hood with charcoal filters. Heavy frying needs real extraction — confirm the duct route before choosing the hood.

A modern kitchen usually needs more than the existing circuits can carry: dedicated oven and hob circuits, dishwasher and washing machine supplies, enough worktop sockets, water for the ice maker or filtered tap, and a distribution board capacity check before appliances are ordered. Discovering the board cannot take the load at second fix is expensive. It is a ten-minute check at survey stage.

Approvals

Do You Need Approval for a Kitchen Renovation in Dubai?

For a like-for-like replacement, usually not much. For a layout change, usually yes.

Replacing cabinetry, doors and worktops without touching services is the lightest scope and rarely triggers a formal process, though most buildings still expect to be notified before contractors come on site.

Moving the sink, adding an island or altering drainage is different. In an apartment that normally needs building management approval, and where the tower sits inside a permit jurisdiction it may need a modification permit as well. In a villa, kitchen work becomes an approval matter once it involves structural change or a new drainage route.

Extraction is worth raising separately. Anything that penetrates an external wall or connects into a shared duct is a building question, not a design one.

Cost

How Much Does Kitchen Renovation Cost in Dubai?

Cabinetry and worktop usually carry most of the budget, with services close behind if the layout changes. What moves the number:

Linear metres of cabinetry

The main measure joinery is priced on

Carcass material

Moisture-resistant board and plywood cost more than particle board and last longer

Door finish

Laminate, acrylic, lacquer and veneer sit at different levels

Hardware

Hinges, runners and lift systems are a real line, not an afterthought

Worktop material

Quartz, granite, porcelain and solid surface vary widely

Layout change

Moving the sink or adding an island means new supply and waste runs

Electrical scope

New circuits and board upgrades against a like-for-like swap

Extraction

Ducted installation costs more than a recirculating hood

Appliances

Supplied by you or by us, and specified before cabinetry is drawn

The number that matters

Not a per-square-foot estimate from a website — a written BOQ after a site visit, showing quantities, materials, exclusions and payment milestones.

Usually excluded from cheap quotes

Approvals and drawings, protection of retained finishes, MEP upgrades, waste removal, snagging after handover, and anything described as "subject to site condition".

Read the full guide: how renovation cost is built up in Dubai →

Timeline

How Long Does a Kitchen Renovation Take?

Joinery manufacture is usually the longest single stage, and it runs in the workshop while site work continues.

The sequence is strip-out, then services first fix, then flooring and wall preparation, then cabinetry installation, then worktop templating. The worktop cannot be templated until the cabinets are in and level, and fabrication takes time after that, so there is normally a gap between installation and a finished kitchen.

Design decisions locked early keep this predictable. Decisions made during the build do not.

Avoid These

Mistakes That Cost Money

Ordering appliances after the design. Cabinetry is built around appliance dimensions. Change the oven and the housing is wrong.

Ignoring extraction until the end. The duct route decides the hood. The hood does not decide the duct route.

Too few sockets. Adding them after tiling means cutting the splashback.

Choosing doors before hardware. Cheap runners in an expensive kitchen fail first and are the thing you notice daily.

Assuming the walls are square. They rarely are. Modular units leave gaps. Workshop-made joinery is scribed to the actual wall.

Checklist

What to Check Before You Start

Final appliance list with model numbers and dimensions

Whether a duct route to outside exists, or whether recirculating is the only option

Distribution board capacity against the new appliance load

Carcass material and edge banding named in the quote

Hardware brand and specification named in the quote

Worktop material, thickness and edge profile

Whether flooring is included and when it is laid

Who supplies and installs appliances

Lead time for cabinetry manufacture and worktop fabrication

What happens to the price if the layout changes after drawings are approved

Get these named in the quote — a specification that says only "fittings" cannot be compared against another price.

FAQ

Kitchen Renovation FAQs

How much does a kitchen renovation cost in Dubai?

It depends on linear metres of cabinetry, carcass and door materials, hardware, worktop choice, and whether the layout and services are changing. A written BOQ after a site visit is the only accurate figure.

Can I move my kitchen to another part of the apartment?

Sometimes, but it is a drainage question first. Waste runs need fall, and the position of the existing stack limits where a sink can go. In apartments the building also has to permit it.

Can I keep my existing appliances?

Yes, if their dimensions are confirmed before cabinetry is drawn. Housings are built to the appliance, so measurements need to be exact.

What is the best material for kitchen cabinets in Dubai?

For the carcass, moisture-resistant MDF or plywood, because kitchens combine humidity, water and AC cycling. For doors it is a question of appearance and use: laminate is hard wearing, lacquer offers any colour, acrylic gives high gloss but shows marks.

Do I need a ducted extractor or is a recirculating hood enough?

It depends on the building. Many Dubai apartments have no duct route to outside, which limits you to recirculating. If you cook heavily, confirm the duct route before choosing the appliance.

Do I need approval to renovate my kitchen?

A like-for-like replacement usually needs little more than notifying the building. Moving the sink, altering drainage or changing extraction normally needs building management approval, and a permit where the tower sits inside a permit jurisdiction.

Can you work to my own designer's drawings?

Yes. We can build to supplied drawings, or handle design and build together.

Book a Kitchen Site Visit

Tell us the property, the current kitchen layout and what you want to change. We will check the services, confirm what the space allows, and issue a written BOQ with materials, hardware and exclusions listed.

+971 8001 217 info@rskrenovation.ae

Dubai, United Arab Emirates

Kitchen Renovation in Dubai