What comes first in a kitchen renovation?

What comes first in a kitchen renovation is a decision, not a demolition. In a Dubai home the first question is whether the sink, the hob and the extractor keep their present connections to water, drainage, gas and outside air, because that answer sets the approval, the trades and the programme that follow. Everything below runs in the order a job meets it.

The Dubai order, step by step

Steps 1 to 6 happen with the old kitchen still in use. That is the point of the order. Every week spent on decisions and paperwork before the strip-out is a week you are still cooking at home, and every week after it is not.

Send us the plan and the community

Why does the layout decision come before the design?

Because it decides which rules the job runs under. Dubai Municipality's no-permit maintenance list covers plumbing fittings, drainage and electrical work kept where they are; relocating them is not on it. Its décor circular frees décor works in units of up to 100 m² from any permit, and above 100 m² an accredited contractor self-permits online through Dubai BPS. Change the approved drawings and the job becomes a modification, filed by a registered consultant.

Developers draw the same line more sharply. Emaar's apartment factsheet rules out relocating MEP services, Town Square classes replacing the counters or adding a custom island as major works, and Dubai Holding wants an application before anything beyond maintenance and repair starts. Our kitchen design page covers the layout choices themselves.

Which approval comes first, the developer's or the authority's?

It depends on the developer, and one of them writes it both ways.

• Emaar: its own NOC heads the queue; Municipality, DDA or Civil Defence approvals follow where the work calls for them, and the contractors' entry permits come last.
• Dubai Holding communities: the authority's consent comes first where one is needed, because the rulebook asks for evidence of it inside the NOC application; the app request itself goes in at least 24 hours before the work, or 72 by email.
• Town Square: its manual gives both orders. An early clause wants the authority consents ahead of the community's; a later one says to obtain them only once Community Management has approved the proposal. Have the order for your job confirmed in writing.

Where a utility is involved it runs alongside: DEWA states 2 working days for the building NOC behind extra load and 1 working day for design approval up to 150 kW, filed by an enrolled consultant or contractor. The hub's guide to Dubai permits sets out each authority's route.

Why are the units ordered before the old kitchen comes out?

So the kitchen is out of use for the shortest time. Made-to-measure cabinets follow the approved drawings to the millimetre and cannot absorb a late change, so the order waits for the approval, and the strip-out then waits for a firm delivery date. Ask for the delivery date in writing before you agree a start date, because the strip-out is timed from it.

Book the delivery inside the community's window as well. Emaar's 2026 villa rules keep bulk deliveries and removals to mornings, 10 am to 1 pm, six days a week and never on a public holiday, and Dubai Holding asks for two days' warning before a large vehicle comes in.

What has to be switched off before the old kitchen comes out?

Water, power and gas. The water is isolated at the valve for the kitchen or the flat, the power at the circuit that feeds the hob, oven and sockets, and the gas by a firm licensed to work on it. Dubai Municipality's contractor classification treats central gas distribution networks as an activity of their own, apart from building and décor contracting, so the cabinet fitter is often not the right firm to cap a gas line.

Ask the building management how the kitchen's gas is supplied before the strip-out is booked, because the answer decides who you call. On the Abu Dhabi plots Tasareeh reviews, its service card for the maintenance permit lists a signed contract with a waste transporter approved by Tadweer, so the old kitchen's removal is booked before the permit is.

Five things not to do when renovating a kitchen

1. Ordering units before the layout is approved. Cabinets made to a plan the community then refuses are paid for twice.
2. Stripping out before the approval is in hand. Town Square bans a contracting company found working without a permit, and Dubai Holding fines unapproved work AED 2,000.
3. Templating the worktop from drawings. It is measured from the fitted base units, so it comes after them, never before.
4. Letting a short permit lapse. Dubai Holding's Minor Modifications Permit runs for seven days at most, and the extension has to be asked for in writing before it ends.
5. Leaving the removal unpriced. Ask whether the strip-out and the waste run are in the price before the first payment.

A clean order before the start protects the weeks on site as well. Our Dubai rules page sets out each developer's approval, and our kitchen contractors quote against one brief that states the order.

Ask for the order in writing