Most kitchens people want to replace do not need replacing. The carcasses are usually sound, the layout usually works, and the plumbing and electrics are already where they should be. What has actually failed is the visible ten per cent — the doors, the drawer fronts, the worktop, the handles and the hinges — and that ten per cent can be changed in days for a fraction of the cost of ripping the room out.
At Fitout | Renovation Dubai we carry out kitchen cabinet refurbishment Dubai homeowners, landlords and property managers ask for: new made-to-measure doors and drawer fronts on your existing carcasses, spraying and colour changes, new worktops and splashbacks, replacement hinges, runners and handles, internal upgrades such as pull-outs and corner solutions, new plinths, cornices and end panels, and repairs to water-damaged or sagging units. It is the same workshop, the same materials and the same finishes as our new kitchens — applied to the kitchen you already have.
Since 1984 we have built kitchens across Dubai, which is why we are equally comfortable refurbishing one: we know which carcasses are worth keeping and which are not, and we say so at the survey. This page explains what refurbishment covers, when it is the right answer and when it is not, what it costs in 2026, and how long you are without a kitchen.
The economics are stark. A full kitchen replacement in a Dubai villa means demolition, disposal, new carcasses, new worktops, plumbing and electrical adjustments, tiling repairs and usually painting — three to six weeks of disruption and a bill that starts in the tens of thousands. A refurbishment changes everything you see and touch, takes two to five days on site, and typically costs between a quarter and a half of a new kitchen.
The second argument is that carcasses in Dubai are often the best part of the kitchen. Developer kitchens are usually fitted with solid, square carcasses and then let down by thin foil-wrapped doors that peel at the edges above the oven and the kettle. Replacing those doors with sprayed MR-MDF or veneered fronts gives you a kitchen that looks and feels far better than the original ever did, on a structure that was never the problem.
The third is practical: nothing moves. Your sink stays where it is, the dishwasher stays plumbed, the hob and extractor stay in place, and you do not need building management approvals for plumbing changes in an apartment. For landlords turning a unit around between tenancies, that difference is everything.
And we are equally clear about when refurbishment is the wrong answer. If the carcasses are particleboard that has swollen with water, if the layout genuinely does not work for how you cook, or if the kitchen needs to move walls or services, we will tell you to spend the money on a new kitchen instead — and quote for that.
You can take all of this or any part of it. Most clients take doors, handles, hinges and a worktop, and add the rest as budget allows. The images below illustrate the type of work rather than particular client kitchens.
Made to measure for your existing carcasses in sprayed MR-MDF, natural veneer, high-pressure laminate, solid-timber shaker or fluted and slatted fronts. We template every opening individually, because developer kitchens are rarely as uniform as they look, and we can change the style completely — handleless, shaker, in-frame look or fluted — without touching the boxes.
Where doors are solid and well made but simply dated, we remove them, prepare and spray them in our workshop in any RAL or NCS colour, and refit. Two-pack polyurethane lacquer gives a factory-grade, washable finish far tougher than anything applied by brush on site, and a two-tone scheme — darker bases, lighter walls — is the quickest way to modernise a kitchen.
Engineered quartz, sintered stone, natural marble, solid timber or high-pressure laminate, templated on site after the doors are fitted, with undermount or inset sink cut-outs, mitred or waterfall ends, and matching splashbacks or upstands. Old worktops are removed and disposed of, and we coordinate the plumbing disconnect and reconnect.
Worn hinges and runners replaced with soft-close equivalents, handles changed or removed entirely for push-to-open, and the inside of the kitchen upgraded: pull-out larders, corner carousels and blind-corner solutions, cutlery and spice dividers, waste sorting bins, plate racks and under-cabinet LED lighting. This is the part clients notice most in daily use.
Water-damaged carcass bases replaced under sinks and dishwashers, sagging shelves re-supported, loose units re-fixed and re-levelled, and new plinths, cornices, pelmets, end panels and open shelving fitted so the refurbished kitchen reads as one piece rather than new doors on an old box.
Refurbishment uses exactly the same specification as our new kitchens — there is no reason to fit a lesser door to a carcass that is staying.
| Option | Best For | Character | Notes for UAE Kitchens |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sprayed MR-MDF fronts | Painted, handleless and shaker styles | Flawless, any colour | Our most common choice; no grain movement, holds paint better than timber |
| Natural veneer fronts | Oak and walnut schemes | Real grain, sequence matched | Warmth of timber with engineered stability in dry AC air |
| High-pressure laminate | Rentals and high-traffic family kitchens | Uniform, tough | Excellent scratch and heat resistance for the money |
| Solid-timber shaker frames | Classic and transitional kitchens | Framed panel, painted or stained | Needs correct expansion allowance; we build it in |
| Fluted and slatted fronts | Islands, tall units, feature runs | Texture and shadow | Striking on part of a kitchen rather than all of it |
| Engineered quartz worktops | Most family kitchens | Consistent pattern | Hard, non-porous and forgiving of heavy use |
| Sintered stone worktops | Large islands, waterfall ends | Large format, thin edges | Heat and UV stable — good near big windows |
| Solid timber worktops | Islands and breakfast bars | Warm, repairable | Keep away from the sink run unless oiled regularly |
| Soft-close hinges and runners | Every refurbishment | Silent, adjustable | The single upgrade clients notice most day to day |
| Marine plywood repair bases | Under sinks and dishwashers | Hidden but critical | Replaces swollen particleboard so the failure does not repeat |
Refurbishment work teaches you exactly how kitchens fail here, because we see the same three or four patterns in every villa.
Steam and heat above appliances. The doors either side of the hob and above the kettle are always the worst. Foil-wrapped fronts delaminate at the top edge, and lacquer yellows. We replace those fronts in sprayed MR-MDF or laminate, and we check that the extractor is actually ducting outside rather than recirculating, because a weak extractor will destroy the next set of doors too.
Water under the sink. A slow leak from a tap tail or a dishwasher connection soaks the carcass base, and particleboard swells irreversibly. We replace the base in marine plywood, seal the edges, and tell you to check the connections annually — this is the single most common repair we make in Dubai kitchens.
Dry air and dust. Air-conditioned air shrinks solid-timber frames, opening fine lines in painted shaker doors; and fine dust grinds into runners and hinges, making them stiff. Engineered fronts and sealed-bearing soft-close hardware solve both.
Sunlight. Big kitchen windows fade dark doors and yellow white ones unevenly. We specify UV-stable two-pack lacquers and, where a kitchen faces west, suggest a colour that will age evenly rather than one that will not.
The point of a refurbishment is that almost nothing about the look is fixed. You can move from gloss to matt, from wood-effect foil to real oak veneer, from handled to handleless, from one colour to two. The most-requested changes we do in Dubai are: dated cherry or wenge-effect kitchens taken to warm white or greige with oak accents; white gloss taken to matt colour with slim bronze or black handles; and plain slab fronts given a fluted island or fluted tall run for texture.
Details matter more than the colour. New handles at the right proportion for the door size; a plinth in a darker tone so the units appear to float; a cornice or a simple shadow gap where the wall units meet the ceiling; open shelving replacing one wall cabinet to break up a long run; and under-cabinet lighting on a dimmer, which transforms how the worktop feels in the evening.
We bring sprayed sample doors in your chosen colours to the kitchen itself, because kitchen colours look completely different under the lighting you actually have.
Almost all of the work happens in our workshop. Your kitchen stays usable until the fitting days.
Most kitchens are without doors for one day and without a worktop for two to four, and you can use the sink for all but part of a single day.
Refurbishment is priced per door and per linear metre rather than as a whole kitchen, so you can see exactly what each decision costs. The figures below are indicative 2026 ranges from our own projects, excluding VAT. A typical 10-linear-metre apartment kitchen with sprayed fronts, new soft-close hardware and a quartz worktop lands between AED 22,000 and AED 45,000 — against AED 60,000 or more to replace it.
| Work | Typical Specification | Indicative Price (AED) |
|---|---|---|
| New sprayed MR-MDF door | Made to measure, two-pack lacquer, any colour | 450 – 1,100 / door |
| New veneered door | Oak or walnut veneer, lacquered | 650 – 1,500 / door |
| New laminate door | HPL faced, edge banded | 320 – 700 / door |
| New solid-timber shaker door | Painted or stained frame and panel | 750 – 1,800 / door |
| New drawer front | Matched to the door specification | 280 – 900 / front |
| Respraying existing doors | Strip, prepare, two-pack lacquer, refit | 300 – 750 / door |
| Soft-close hinge replacement | Supply and fit, adjusted | 45 – 120 / hinge |
| Soft-close drawer runner replacement | Supply and fit per drawer | 180 – 550 / drawer |
| Handles supplied and fitted | Per handle, any finish | 35 – 260 / handle |
| Quartz worktop | 20 mm, templated, undermount cut-out | 450 – 900 / linear m |
| Sintered stone worktop | 12–20 mm, mitre and waterfall capable | 950 – 2,400 / linear m |
| Solid timber worktop | Oak or iroko, oiled | 600 – 1,600 / linear m |
| Carcass base repair under sink | Marine plywood, sealed | 450 – 1,400 / unit |
| Pull-out larder or corner solution | Supplied and fitted into existing unit | 900 – 3,500 each |
| Under-cabinet LED lighting | Per run, dimmable, wired | 900 – 2,800 |
| Plinths, cornices and end panels | Matched to new fronts | 200 – 650 / linear m |
| Removal and disposal | Old doors and worktop | 600 – 2,000 |
| Factor | New doors on existing carcasses | Respraying existing doors | Full new kitchen |
|---|---|---|---|
| Indicative cost | 25–50% of a new kitchen | 15–30% of a new kitchen | 100% |
| Time on site | 2–5 days | 1–2 days plus workshop time | 3–6 weeks |
| Can change style | Yes — completely | Colour only | Yes — completely |
| Can change layout | No | No | Yes |
| Fixes water-damaged carcasses | Repaired individually | No | Yes |
| Disruption | Minimal | Minimal | Significant |
| Best when | Carcasses sound, layout works | Doors solid but dated | Layout wrong or carcasses failed |
Our rule: if the carcasses are sound and the layout works, refurbishment wins on every measure that matters. If the doors themselves are solid and well made and only the colour is dated, respraying is even better value. And if the boxes have failed or the kitchen is in the wrong place, spend the money once and replace it properly.
A refurbished kitchen lasts as long as a new one if it is treated the same way. Wipe spills immediately, especially at the base of doors near the dishwasher and along the drawer edges, and clean with a barely damp cloth and a pH-neutral cleaner — never abrasive creams, bleach or silicone sprays on sprayed fronts. Run the extractor while cooking and for ten minutes afterwards, and make sure it ducts outside; steam is what destroys the door above a hob. Check the tap tails, dishwasher hose and waste connections once a year, because a silent leak under the sink is the most common cause of kitchen damage we are called to. Adjust a hinge the moment a door starts to sit unevenly — two minutes with a screwdriver — and vacuum dust out of drawer runners twice a year. Re-oil solid timber worktops every few months and keep them away from standing water. And keep the offcut of your worktop and a spare door if we supply one: matching a batch years later is difficult, and a spare turns a damaged front into a same-week fix.
Villa owners whose developer kitchen is only a few years old but looks tired; families whose doors have peeled above the oven and the kettle; homeowners who want a different colour rather than a different kitchen; landlords and property managers turning units around quickly between tenancies with minimum downtime; apartment owners who cannot make plumbing or structural changes without building approvals; buyers of resale villas who want the kitchen to feel theirs before moving in; short-let and holiday-home operators refreshing units on a schedule; and offices, cafés and staff kitchens needing a cost-effective refresh over a weekend.
Our workshop is in Ras Al Khor Industrial Area, so surveys, deliveries and fitting teams reach most of Dubai within thirty minutes. We refurbish kitchens in Jumeirah, Umm Suqeim, Al Barsha, Arabian Ranches, Emirates Hills, Dubai Hills Estate, DAMAC Hills, Jumeirah Golf Estates, Jumeirah Park, Al Furjan, Mohammed Bin Rashid City, Palm Jumeirah, Dubai Marina, JLT, Downtown, Business Bay, Mirdif, Al Warqa, Nad Al Sheba, Town Square and Villanova, and on request in Sharjah, Ajman, Abu Dhabi, Al Ain and Ras Al Khaimah. Apartment work is planned around building rules, service-lift bookings and permitted hours, and we handle the building management paperwork.
If the kitchen needs more than a refresh, or the rest of the house is next: custom kitchens and pantries when replacement is the better answer; bar units and home bars to extend the same scheme; wardrobes and fitted cabinets refurbished the same way; furniture repair and restoration for free-standing pieces; and the home carpentry hub, which lists every joinery service we offer.
New sprayed doors run AED 450–1,100 each, respraying existing doors AED 300–750 each, and quartz worktops AED 450–900 per linear metre. A typical 10-metre apartment kitchen lands between AED 22,000 and AED 45,000 — roughly a third to a half of replacing it.
Manufacture takes two to four weeks while your kitchen keeps working normally. On site you are without doors for about a day and without a worktop for two to four days, with the sink usable except for part of one day.
Yes. New made-to-measure fronts let you move from handled to handleless, slab to shaker, gloss to matt, or wood-effect to real veneer — all on the carcasses you already have.
We check every unit at the survey for water damage, square and fixings. Sound MR-MDF or plywood carcasses are worth keeping; particleboard that has swollen under the sink is not, though single units can be repaired or replaced individually.
No. We make new doors in our workshop or strip and respray your existing ones in two-pack lacquer. Vinyl wrapping lifts at the edges above the hob and kettle within a couple of Dubai summers.
Yes — quartz, sintered stone, marble, solid timber or laminate. It is templated after the new doors are fitted, and we coordinate disconnecting and reconnecting the plumbing.
Yes. We replace the carcass base in marine plywood, seal the edges and refit, so the failure does not repeat. It is the most common repair we do in Dubai kitchens.
We normally supply new soft-close hinges with new doors, drilled and adjusted in our workshop. Reusing worn hinges is a false economy — they are the part that makes a kitchen feel cheap.
Yes — pull-out larders, corner carousels and blind-corner solutions, cutlery and spice dividers, waste sorting bins and under-cabinet lighting, all fitted into your existing units.
It is ideal. Landlords get a kitchen that looks new in a few days rather than weeks, with durable laminate or sprayed fronts and soft-close hardware, at a cost that makes sense between tenancies.
Yes — any RAL or NCS colour, and we can colour-match to an existing sample. We bring sprayed sample doors to your kitchen so you can judge the colour under your own lighting.
A written warranty on the fronts, the finish and our fitting, plus manufacturer warranties on hinges, runners and worktops. Terms are stated on your quote.
Dubai’s single-source fit-out and renovation specialists since 1984. 25+ in-house trades delivering residential and commercial interiors across all seven emirates.