Joinery
Custom woodwork and joinery in Abu Dhabi
Fitted joinery is judged on the parts nobody photographs. Whether the doors line up across a five metre run. Whether the shadow gap stays the same width from one end to the other. Whether the drawer still runs sweetly in August. None of that comes from the drawing. It comes from measuring properly and cutting to the wall you actually have.
Our workshop in Abu Dhabi has been running since 2003, and the joiners in it are ours. That matters more for fitted work than for anything else we do, because fitted work cannot be swapped out if it arrives wrong. There is no showroom to return it to. So we measure it, cut it, finish it and hang it, and the person who scribed the panel to your wall works for the same company that drew it.
On the choice between fitted joinery and free-standing pieces, we have written about when custom work earns its cost.
Process
How we work
- 01
Site survey
Walls are rarely square and floors are rarely level. We measure the opening at several heights before anything is cut, because a fitted run has nowhere to hide an error.
- 02
Drawn and specified
Carcase material, front material, edge detail, hinges and runners, all written down. Hardware is where fitted joinery quietly gets cheapened, so it is named in the quote.
- 03
Cut and assembled in the workshop
Panels are cut, edged and assembled here. Finishing happens before delivery wherever the piece allows it, which keeps dust and fumes out of your rooms.
- 04
Installed and scribed
Fitted work is scribed to the wall on site. That is the difference between joinery that looks built in and joinery that looks delivered.
Gallery
From this part of our work
See the full gallery
Questions
Questions we get asked
- What counts as joinery rather than furniture?
- Roughly, joinery is fixed to the building and furniture is not. Wardrobes, kitchen units, wall panelling, shelving, doors, staircases and reception counters are joinery. We do both, and plenty of projects need the two to match.
- Which materials do you use for humid conditions?
- This is worth a conversation rather than a rule of thumb. Solid timber moves with humidity, so a fitted run that spans a long wall is usually built as a stable substrate with a veneer or a lacquered face, and solid timber is kept for the parts that can move. We will tell you what we are proposing and why before you sign.
- Can you match existing woodwork in the property?
- Usually. Send photographs and we will look at the profile and the finish. Matching a profile is straightforward; matching a finish that has aged for ten years is the part that takes the skill.
- Do you handle the doors and the frames as well?
- Yes, and it is generally better if the same workshop does both. Doors and frames that were made together tend to hang better than a door bought to fit a frame someone else built.
Related services
Next step
Tell us about your project
Send a floor plan, a photograph, or just an idea. We will tell you what it takes and what it costs.