Commercial kitchen fit out Dubai: costs and compliance
A commercial kitchen fit out in Dubai costs between AED 450 and AED 750 per sq ft, and most projects run 8 to 14 weeks from first drawing to food safety inspection. Below is the full scope, the line item costs, and the approvals that decide whether your kitchen opens on time.
Why work with Monde
- Own workforce of 50+ specialists under Monde's own licence
- Commercial-only scope covering offices, retail, F&B and hospitality
- Dedicated project managers on every site
- Shop drawings and material coordination handled in house
- Itemised fixed-scope quotations before work starts
- Handover support for Dubai Municipality and Civil Defence inspections
What a commercial kitchen fit out covers
A commercial kitchen fit out covers everything between the bare shell and a kitchen that can pass a Dubai Municipality food premises inspection. That means hygienic finishes, stainless steel fabrication, refrigeration, extraction, drainage, power and the back-of-house areas inspectors look at, not just the cooking line.
The typical scope on a restaurant or hotel kitchen job:
- Hygienic wall cladding and non-slip floor finishes with coved skirting so corners can be cleaned
- Stainless steel fabrication: preparation tables, sink units, shelving, pass counters, dishwash areas
- Walk-in cold rooms and freezer rooms, modular or built in place
- Extraction hood, grease duct, make-up air and fire dampers
- Grease trap, floor drains and drainage falls
- Three-phase power, dedicated circuits, isolation and emergency stops
- Staff changing rooms, handwash basins and dry store shelving
- Cold chain and equipment commissioning before handover
This is not a residential kitchen with bigger equipment. Homes run single phase, have no grease duct and no food premises approval. An F&B kitchen fit out in Dubai is judged by Civil Defence, Dubai Municipality and DEWA at the same time, and the design has to satisfy all three. Monde handles restaurant, hotel, cloud kitchen and staff canteen projects across the UAE, from standalone kitchens to fit outs inside occupied buildings, and the wider scope sits inside our commercial fit out services in Dubai.
Commercial kitchen fit out cost in Dubai
The working number for a commercial kitchen fit out cost in Dubai is AED 450 to AED 750 per sq ft for a full back-of-house fit out, excluding cooking equipment and loose furniture. A 1,200 sq ft production kitchen therefore lands between AED 540,000 and AED 900,000.
| Item | Typical range in Dubai |
|---|---|
| Hygienic wall and floor finishes | AED 90 to 160 per sq ft |
| Stainless steel fabrication | AED 1,800 to 3,500 per running metre |
| Hood, grease duct and make-up air | AED 60,000 to 140,000 |
| Grease trap and drainage | AED 12,000 to 35,000 |
| Modular walk-in cold room | AED 45,000 to 80,000 |
| Three-phase power and MEP rough-in | AED 90,000 to 200,000 |
A worked example. A 1,200 sq ft restaurant kitchen in Al Quoz inside a light industrial unit with an existing three-phase supply comes in near AED 560,000: AED 120,000 finishes, AED 95,000 stainless, AED 110,000 extraction with a 12 metre duct run, AED 27,000 grease trap and drainage, AED 70,000 cold room and freezer, AED 140,000 MEP. The same kitchen inside a Business Bay tower with a DEWA power upgrade adds AED 60,000 to AED 180,000 for the connection and load works, and lifts the total toward the upper end of the range.
Per cover benchmarks help with early budgeting. Full service restaurants run AED 4,000 to AED 9,000 per cover for the kitchen alone. Hotel kitchens run AED 12,000 to AED 20,000 per cover because of banqueting capacity and heavier extraction. A single station cloud kitchen pod with shared utilities runs AED 60,000 to AED 110,000.
Projects in Abu Dhabi and Sharjah often price 5 to 10 percent lower on labour, but separate authority submissions and travel add most of that difference back. Get the electrical load schedule checked before you sign a lease.
office fit out in Dubai with light wood collaborative tables, grey lounge sofas and city views" loading="lazy" decoding="async" /> Monde delivers back-of-house kitchen work and the surrounding office and front-of-house areas under one project manager.
Approvals and compliance for F&B kitchens in Dubai
Four approvals decide your opening date, and they are best run in parallel rather than one after another.
- DET trade licence. The licensed activity must match what you build. A restaurant licence does not cover central production or catering, and inspectors check the layout against the licence and the approved drawings.
- Dubai Municipality food premises approval. Submitted with kitchen layout, finishes, drainage, handwash provision, pest control and waste storage. This is the approval that signs off food safety before trading.
- DEWA power upgrade. If the unit has no three-phase supply, or the connected load exceeds existing capacity, you need a load schedule, a supply application and possibly a meter room or substation change.
- Civil Defence. Required for the hood, grease duct, fire dampers and any suppression system. Duct routes through shared ceilings or other tenants need early coordination.
In Dubai, commercial kitchen extraction and grease trap design is where most first submissions fail. Size the trap on connected fixtures and meals per day, not on unit area. A mid-size restaurant kitchen usually needs 100 to 250 gallons of retention with proper access for pumping. Undersized traps cause backflow, and backflow stops a food safety sign off.
Programme: how long a restaurant kitchen fit out takes in Dubai
Eight to fourteen weeks is normal for a restaurant kitchen fit out once drawings are agreed. A step by step view:
- Design and shop drawings, 2 to 3 weeks. Equipment schedule, MEP layout, ceiling and finishes plan.
- Authority submissions in parallel, 3 to 6 weeks. Dubai Municipality, DET, DEWA and Civil Defence run alongside site work.
- Strip out and shell preparation, 1 week.
- MEP rough-in, 3 to 4 weeks. Power, drainage, water, grease duct and make-up air.
- Floor and wall finishes, 2 weeks. Waterproofing, screed, tiling and cladding.
- Stainless steel and cold room installation, 2 to 3 weeks.
- Equipment set, commissioning and snagging, 1 to 2 weeks.
- Food safety inspection and handover, 3 to 7 days, with as-built drawings and O&M files.
Approvals run alongside the build, which is why the total is closer to 10 weeks than 20. If the shell is not ready, or the grease duct has nowhere legal to go, the clock stops. Fix the duct route in week one.
Meeting and admin rooms next to the kitchen are usually fitted out under the same contract and the same programme.
Design decisions that cut cost without hurting compliance
Cost sits in the MEP, not the tiles. Move these levers early.
- Keep the cooking line on an external wall so the hood duct runs short and straight. Every extra horizontal metre of grease duct adds steel, fire dampers and cleaning access.
- Choose modular cold rooms over rooms built in place. They arrive panelised, install in days and can move with you at lease end.
- Design on standard panel and stainless sizes. Custom dimensions cost more and delay delivery.
- Fix the equipment list before MEP rough-in. If the combi oven arrives after first fix, the power and water points are wrong and the walls are already closed.
- Share wet services in one spine. One drainage run and one water group is cheaper than four.
- Phase the handover on large sites. Opening the dining area while the back kitchen finishes can start revenue weeks earlier, if Civil Defence allows it.
Choosing a commercial kitchen fit out contractor in Dubai
Ask three questions before you sign. How many fitters are on your own payroll? Who welds the grease duct and are they certified? Who produces the shop drawings and the as-builts? A commercial kitchen fit out contractor in Dubai with its own workforce controls the programme. Subcontracted MEP and ducting is where most delays and snag lists come from.
Our clients tend to mention the same two things, schedule and site discipline. Google shows a 5 rating from 3 reviews for Monde.
The site was clean when they left. We needed them fast on a running job. They finished the renovation on time. Review by Davranbek Tashbayev, 5 out of 5
The new ceiling looks clean and straight. They finished in one day and did not delay us. Review by Muhammad Karim, 5 out of 5
For the front of house side of the project, including dining area, washrooms and joinery, our guide to restaurant fit out Dubai costs, approvals and timelines covers the separate budget lines. If you are comparing whole premises work, the commercial fit out Dubai costs and timelines breakdown shows how kitchen and public areas stack up together. When you are ready to price your own layout, request a commercial kitchen fit out quote and we will send an itemised scope.
Common mistakes in Dubai commercial kitchen fit outs
- Undersized extraction with no make-up air. The kitchen pulls, the dining room smells, and Civil Defence notices.
- Grease trap sized on unit area instead of fixture load, then buried behind a wall with no pump access.
- Three-phase load not calculated before the lease is signed. A DEWA upgrade can add months.
- Finishes that fail hygiene rules: square floor to wall junctions, absorbent surfaces, no handwash basin in the prep area.
- Equipment ordered late. Dimensions drift, first fix is wrong, and stainless has to be remade.
- No as-built drawings at handover. The next contractor drills through a water main.
- Skipping the staff and waste areas. Inspectors check changing rooms, dry store and waste storage as well as the cooking line.
Frequently asked questions
How much does a commercial kitchen fit out cost in Dubai?
Plan AED 450 to AED 750 per sq ft for a full back-of-house kitchen. A 1,200 sq ft restaurant kitchen with extraction, grease trap, cold room and three-phase MEP typically lands between AED 540,000 and AED 900,000, excluding cooking equipment. Power upgrades and long grease duct runs push the figure up.
How long does a restaurant kitchen fit out take in Dubai?
Eight to fourteen weeks from approved drawings to handover. MEP rough-in and authority approvals are the long poles, and they run in parallel. If the grease duct route or the power supply is unresolved, add four to six weeks.
Do I need Civil Defence approval for kitchen extraction in Dubai?
Yes. Any commercial hood and grease duct needs Civil Defence review for fire dampers, duct material and clearance from combustibles. Ducts crossing shared ceilings or other tenants need landlord and authority coordination before fabrication starts.
Who approves the grease trap and how big should it be?
Dubai Municipality reviews the grease trap as part of food premises approval, and the drainage connection must match the approved layout. Size it on connected fixtures and expected meals per day, usually 100 to 250 gallons for a mid-size restaurant kitchen, with access for regular pumping.
Can you fit out a cloud kitchen or staff canteen as well as a restaurant?
Yes. Cloud kitchen pods, hotel back-of-house, catering units, school and corporate canteens all sit in the same compliance framework: hygienic finishes, extraction, grease trap, three-phase power and food premises approval. The scope changes, the approvals do not.
