Kitchen Renovation Order of Works, and the Waits That Decide How Long It Takes

What has to be chosen before the cabinet maker draws anything

The demolition is the quick part. The calendar is set by a chain of waits further down: cabinet production, then the worktop template, then cutting the stone, each starting only when the one before it ends. The chain begins with the cabinet drawing, which cannot be finished while the appliances are undecided.

Every built-in appliance brings its own cut-out, gaps and socket position from its installation manual. Bosch's installation guidance for its built-in ovens is typical: at least 5 mm between the oven front and the cabinet, a ventilation gap of at least 30 mm between the worktop and the top of an oven that sits under a hob, and a power socket either inside a marked zone or outside the installation space altogether. Integrated dishwashers come in standard and taller heights, each with its own niche range, so the plinth height depends on which you buy.

Before you sign the drawings, fix these and give the model numbers to the cabinet maker:

• Oven, microwave, dishwasher and fridge, built-in or freestanding, with each model's installation manual.
• The hob: gas or induction, and its width. Gas ties the position to the building's supply; induction usually needs a heavier circuit.
• The sink and tap: undermount or inset, single or double bowl.
• The hood and where its air goes. Many apartment kitchens have no duct to the outside, so a recirculating hood with filters is often the only choice. Ask building management before planning a new duct through a wall or into a shared shaft.
• The worktop material and edge, because thickness and support rails change the cabinet carcasses.

Ordering appliances early costs nothing in time, and if a model is out of stock you can choose its replacement before production starts.

The building's approval and its working hours

A kitchen job that touches plumbing, electrics or gas usually needs the building's approval, and sometimes a permit from Dubai Municipality, Trakhees or the DDA on top, depending on the area. The order of those applications is covered in the approvals sequence for owners. For the calendar, one point matters: the clock on the works starts on the day the approval arrives, so apply as soon as the drawings and the contractor are fixed.

If you are redoing other rooms too, the approval and the working days are shared, which is part of the trade-off in a full fit-out against one room at a time.

The building's house rules then set the working week. In Emaar communities, for example, notes on the community management's permit portal give contractor hours of 8 AM to 5 PM with no work on Sundays or public holidays, and ask that noisy work be avoided between 1 PM and 3 PM, though the portal's own terms state the hours differently, so confirm yours with the building. Breaking out old tiles is noisy work, and a strip-out that would take a crew one long day may take two inside those hours.

The same site makes rubbish the contractor's responsibility. Ask your building three things that move dates: whether the service lift must be booked for debris and deliveries, how far ahead, and whether a refundable deposit is held until the common areas are inspected.

Strip-out and rough-in: where moving the sink or hob adds days

After the old units and tiles come out, the plumber and the electrician work inside the open walls and floor. If the sink, hob and appliances stay where they were, this is short. Moving any of them is where the extra days come from.

• Moving the sink means a new waste run with enough fall to the stack, which may mean chasing the floor or raising the plinth. Ask where the new waste will join the existing one before you agree to the layout.
• Moving a gas hob in a tower on central gas means changing pipework that belongs to the building's gas system. Ask building management who is allowed to alter it and what sign-off it needs. Some buildings route this through their own gas provider, and changes to gas installations in Dubai can involve Dubai Civil Defence approval. Do not let a general fit-out crew cut or extend gas pipe.
• Switching to induction often means a new dedicated circuit from the consumer-unit panel. Induction hob manuals typically state the circuit rating they need. Neff hobs let the installer set the connection current, which must match the circuit. Your electrician checks the existing cable and breaker against the manual of the hob you have chosen.

Gas and the consumer unit are not owner jobs. Switch nothing off at the panel and leave any gas valve as you found it unless the contractor asks you to.

Before the walls are closed, photograph every new pipe and cable run with a tape measure in the frame, so the cabinet fitter knows where it is safe to drill.

Tiling, and the cure times on the adhesive's data sheet

Tile adhesive and grout have printed waits, and they are the cheapest ones to respect. Mapei's data sheet for Keraflex, a common cement-based tile adhesive, gives these figures at 23°C and 50% relative humidity:

• Wall joints ready for grouting after 4 to 8 hours.
• Floor joints ready for grouting after 24 hours.
• Light foot traffic after 24 hours.
• Ready for use after about 14 days.

The same sheet warns that strong sun, wind or a hot substrate can cut the open time "even to just a few minutes". In a flat where the AC is off during summer works, that is a real condition, so ask whether the crew will keep the room cooled while tiling.

Two choices here change the order. If the floor tile runs under the cabinets, the floor is laid first and the cabinets wait for it. If the cabinets stand on the screed and the tile stops at the plinth, the cabinet layout must be final before the tiler starts. The backsplash usually waits until the worktop is in, because it sits on the worktop's top edge. If the material is not chosen yet, the backsplash comparison covers what goes behind the hob.

Cabinets, then the template, then the stone

This is the stretch where a kitchen most often sits unfinished. Caesarstone's templating guidance lists what must be done before the templater comes: the old countertop removed, base cabinets permanently installed and aligned, all electrical and plumbing complete, and the sink and appliances on site but not installed, so every edge can be reached. If something is missing, the visit is rescheduled at the client's cost. Caesarstone also says the homeowner must be present to sign off the measurements.

The sequence is fixed:

1. Base cabinets fixed and levelled. Uneven floors and walls in an older flat are corrected at this point, before the template.
2. Templating visit, with you present, the sink and hob in the room and the edge profile decided.
3. Fabrication in the workshop. This is the wait to ask about. One North American cabinet seller puts it at 5 to 14 days after template approval, but that is one seller's claim and fabricators set their own. Ask yours for a date in writing.
4. Fitting day. Caesarstone says at least two installers are needed because the slabs are too heavy for one person, and that quartz can be used straight after fitting.

Quartz, sintered stone and granite all contain crystalline silica, and cutting them releases it as respirable dust. Cosentino's own safety guide lists 5 to 11% crystalline silica for Dekton sintered stone, ranges up to about 90% across its Silestone quartz grades, and anywhere from 0 to 99% for natural stone. The same guide says the worktop should be finished when it leaves the workshop, with cut-outs made there, so no further work is done on site. If a piece still has to be adjusted in the flat, it asks for a ventilated spot such as a balcony, water-fed or vacuum-extracted tools and a P3 or equivalent respirator. Stay out of the kitchen while it happens, and ask for the dust to be cleaned up wet, since dry sweeping lifts it back into the air.

Sockets in the backsplash zone are a reason to settle the wall before templating. Where socket openings are not fixed in time, they end up being cut in the flat.

The last trades: backsplash, appliances and connections

Once the worktop is down, the rest moves quickly. The plumber connects the sink and tap, the electrician connects the hob and oven, and appliances slide into their niches. A tiled backsplash goes on after the worktop. A glass or stone slab backsplash needs its own template once the worktop is in, followed by another workshop wait, so it may arrive after the kitchen is otherwise usable.

Run each appliance before the crew leaves. Check that the dishwasher door clears the plinth and handles, the oven door opens fully, and the silicone along the worktop is continuous.

Checking whether a contractor's schedule is realistic

A realistic schedule puts dates on the hand-offs. When you ask kitchen renovation contractors for quotes, ask each for these dates, in this order:

1. Date the cabinet drawings are signed, and the production time from that date. Made-to-measure cabinets are usually the longest wait in the job, and the time varies by maker and finish, so get it in writing.
2. Date the strip-out starts, which depends on the building's approval.
3. Rough-in finished, with photos of the open walls.
4. Tiling finished, and the days the floor is left before loading.
5. Cabinet delivery and installation.
6. Templating date.
7. Worktop fitting date, from the fabricator.
8. Backsplash, appliance connection and handover.

Some steps can overlap, and a good schedule uses that. Cabinets can be in production while the room is stripped, rewired and tiled, if the drawings were signed early; ask whether the maker will re-measure after the walls are made good. Appliances can be ordered in the first week. The biggest saving is in the start date: if the strip-out waits until the cabinet maker has a confirmed delivery date, the kitchen is out of action for the fitting stretch only, and not for the whole production time as well.

Other steps cannot overlap. The template cannot be taken before the base cabinets are fixed, the stone cannot be cut before the template, and the floor needs its cure before heavy loads. A schedule that gives a worktop fitting date before a templating date, or puts the template on the day the cabinets arrive, has guessed one of those waits. Ask the contractor which fabricator they use and whether that date came from the fabricator.

Quotes for a kitchen renovation differ for reasons the total hides: who supplies the cabinets, whether the stone fabricator is the contractor's own or a subcontractor, how much plumbing and wiring moves, and whether the gas work goes through the building's provider. Everlook lets you compare offers from licensed UAE kitchen fitters side by side before you commit, with no obligation. Send each one the same thing: the drawing or a sketch, the appliance model numbers, and the building's working hours. Then ask each for the dated list above.

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