Where the money goes
What is the most expensive part of a kitchen renovation?
The cabinets, in almost every kitchen that keeps its plan. What each line costs where a UAE company prints it, which choices double a line, and what moving a service adds on top.
The answer
The most expensive part of a kitchen renovation, line by line
The most expensive part of a kitchen renovation is the part that fills the room: the cabinets, their doors and the hardware inside them. It is the one line in every kitchen price in the table below, and Yalla Renovation prices it on its own. The worktop and the appliances come next, and they enter the published price lists in that order as the scope grows.
What is the most expensive part of a kitchen renovation?
The cabinetry. Yalla Renovation prices cabinets alone at AED 6,000 to 15,000 for stock units in a small kitchen, from AED 15,000 for semi-custom and from AED 30,000 for custom work, which can pass AED 50,000. Custom cabinets on their own can therefore cost more than MBC Renovation Services' whole full kitchen with design and appliances, AED 25,000 to 40,000. Worktops join MBC's list with its 3 x 3 metre kitchen, from AED 15,000, and appliances with the full kitchen. Moving the sink, the gas or the extraction adds trades and approvals on top of every line. Every band is on our kitchen price guide.
Which lines each published kitchen price includes
| Published price | Cabinets | Worktops | Appliances | Published by |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Kitchen cabinet makeover, AED 5,000 to 15,000 | New faces on existing boxes | No | No | MBC Renovation Services |
| Cabinets alone, AED 6,000 to 50,000 and more | Stock to custom | No | No | Yalla Renovation |
| Small kitchen, from AED 12,000 | New, with lighting and paint | No | No | MBC Renovation Services |
| 3 x 3 metre kitchen, from AED 15,000 | New | Yes, with plumbing | No | MBC Renovation Services |
| Full kitchen, AED 25,000 to 40,000 | New, with a design stage | Not named | Yes | MBC Renovation Services |
| Standard kitchen, AED 55,000 to 90,000 | Semi-handleless | Quartz | Integrated | Vision Three |
Read down the cabinet column and it is never empty. Worktops appear once a price names plumbing, appliances once it names a design stage, and at the top Vision Three's standard kitchen names all three with a specification for each. No company in the table prices a worktop or an appliance package on its own, so those two lines can only be read from the steps between rows.
Ask for the cabinet line on its own
Why do cabinets cost the most in a kitchen renovation?
Because cabinetry is built unit by unit for your walls, and it carries both the finish you see and the hardware you use every day. Three choices move it more than the size of the kitchen does.
- Stock, semi-custom or custom. Yalla Renovation's three bands start at AED 6,000, AED 15,000 and AED 30,000, so moving from stock to custom multiplies the floor of the line by five.
- The carcass board. The box behind the door is where a cheaper quote saves, so the board and its grade belong on the quote in writing. Our wood versus MDF comparison sets out what each board does beside a sink.
- Made here or shipped in. The published luxury rows, where imported joinery sits, start at AED 120,000.
Which door finish doubles the cabinet line?
Veneer against laminate. Bamboo Woodworks, a Ras Al Khor joinery workshop, starts prelaminated replacement doors at AED 140 each and veneered doors at AED 280, twice as much for the same opening, with painted doors from AED 180 and PVC from AED 200 in between. Every ten doors cost AED 1,400 in laminate and AED 2,800 in veneer at those starting prices, before a handle or a hinge.
Neither MBC nor Bamboo prices handles or hinges on their own, which is why they belong on a quote as named products rather than an allowance. Our refacing prices page compares the four finishes.
Are worktops or appliances the next biggest cost?
On the published figures the two cannot be ranked against each other, because no company in the table prices either one alone. What the steps show is their order: MBC's list adds worktops and plumbing between its AED 12,000 and AED 15,000 rows, and appliances with the design stage in its AED 25,000 to 40,000 full kitchen.
The material decides the worktop line. Quartz, granite, marble and porcelain behave differently in a Dubai kitchen, and our worktop comparison covers heat, stains and sealing. For appliances, freestanding against integrated matters more than the brand: integrated models hide behind cabinet doors, so part of their cost lands in the cabinet line as extra fronts and tall housings.
What makes a kitchen renovation cost more than any single line?
Moving something the building supplies. A sink in a new place needs fresh supply and waste runs; a hob needs its gas pipework moved by a licensed gas contractor, or an electrical circuit of its own; an extractor needs a new route to outside air. Each brings a trade and, often, an approval priced outside the contractor's band.
- Town Square: new cabinets are a minor alteration at AED 1,000, while new counters are major works at AED 2,000 plus an AED 5,000 deposit, decided in 5 working days.
- Emaar apartments: the factsheet does not allow MEP services to be moved, so the costliest change is also one you cannot make.
- Dubai Municipality land: a change to the approved drawings goes to the Municipality as a modification, drawn and filed by a registered consultant; service 4127 states 3 working days.
- Extra power: an induction hob or a second oven may raise the load, and only a DEWA-enrolled consultant or contractor can apply for more.
Our layout permit guide follows each move to the body that has to agree.
Where to spend and where to save
Spend on what is hard to change later: the board under the sink, the hinges and runners, and the worktop joint over the sink. Save on what is easy to change: handles, the finish on the wall units, the lighting under them. Our kitchen budgets page turns the bands into totals, the budget kitchen page shows the cheapest routes through them, and our kitchen quotes put one brief to several contractors so the cabinet line can be compared on its own. The renovation hub asks the same question of a whole home.
Related questions
Kitchen cost questions
- Do cabinets or appliances cost more?
- In the published prices, cabinets. Custom cabinets alone start at AED 30,000 on Yalla Renovation's list, above the floor of MBC's full kitchen with appliances at AED 25,000. No company in these tables prices an appliance package on its own, so set your own appliance quote against the cabinet line.
- Is labour or material the bigger cost?
- No company in these tables splits its kitchen price into labour and materials, so the split is a question for the quote. MBC Renovation Services states its average of AED 15,000 to 25,000 for a complete remodel with materials and labour together.
- Does a bigger kitchen always cost more?
- Not in proportion. The cabinet line follows the length of the runs and the number of units, not the floor area. MBC ties one of its totals to a room size, AED 15,000 for a 3 x 3 metre kitchen, and even that row lists what is inside it rather than a rate.
- Why do two quotes for the same kitchen differ so much?
- Usually because the cabinet line differs: stock against custom, particleboard against plywood, unbranded against branded hinges. Ask both contractors to price the same unit list with the same board and hardware, and most of the gap either closes or explains itself.
- Does Corvana price the kitchen?
- No, the contractors you choose do. We write one brief, ask each contractor to show the cabinet, worktop and appliance lines separately, and set their figures against the published bands. It costs the homeowner nothing.
Who you are dealing with
- OperatorWebsiteOS LLC
- Licence2646567.01
- Cost to homeownerNone
- Figures datedSeptember 2026
Tell us about the kitchen
The wall lengths, your community and which lines matter most to you. We come back with contractors who price the cabinets, the worktop and the appliances as separate lines, against the published bands.