Restaurant and cafe interior design ideas for Dubai

The concept decides the room. A coffee shop that lives on takeaway and short stays needs a counter that handles a queue and small tables that turn quickly. A family restaurant in a mall needs wide aisles for prams and seating that wipes clean. Before any of that is drawn, decide how many covers the unit has to hold on a full night, which hours you trade and how much of the year the terrace is usable. In Dubai the setting shapes those answers as much as the menu: a mall unit works to the mall's hours and design rules, a street unit in a villa community often lives on breakfast and weekend brunch, and a tower lobby cafe is busy at lunch and quiet by evening. Our restaurant and cafe interior design work starts with the kitchen and the service route, then the dining room. If the vocabulary of shell, Cat A and Cat B is new, our guide to what fit-out means in Dubai explains what the landlord hands over.

Seating density is the trade-off between covers and comfort, and the concept sets it rather than the size of the unit. These are the common layouts in Dubai units and what each gives up.

Restaurant finishes are tested every day, and in Dubai the air swings between cold air-conditioning inside and humid heat at the door. A finish that marks soon after opening is the wrong finish.

• FloorsPorcelain tile or hard stone with a slip-resistant finish in the dining room, and a fully washable floor with a coved skirting in the kitchen and behind the counter. Real timber moves in Dubai's summer humidity, so a timber look is better done in a laminate or a wood-effect tile rated for wet mopping.
• Table and counter surfacesSolid surface, compact laminate, quartz or sealed stone take hot plates and cleaning chemicals; a marble-look porcelain gives the stone look without the staining. Timber tables need a hard lacquer and an edge that does not chip when chairs are pushed in.
• Walls behind seatingShoulders and chair backs rub the wall along every banquette. A washable panelled dado, a slatted panel or a tiled band at that height protects the wall and becomes part of the look; painted plaster belongs above it.
• SeatingWipe-clean fabric or faux leather on the banquettes, with the seat as a separate pad so it can be recovered without rebuilding the bench. Our custom-made furniture team makes bench seating and tables to the plan, drawn in 3D first.
• Joinery near water and heatCounters, back bars and display units sit beside sinks, coffee machines and dishwashers, so they are better built from moisture-resistant boards, with the services run inside the carcass and access panels where the equipment needs them. Our bespoke joinery page explains the common boards and finishes in general terms.
• Metals and glassBrushed stainless steel and powder-coated aluminium cope with cleaning; bare brass and mild steel mark in a humid, frequently wiped room. Glass doors to the terrace mist over when the room is cold and the air outside is humid, so a lobby or a second door keeps them clear.

A room can pass every drawing review and still be too loud to talk in, or so covered in logos that the food is lost. Both are fixed in the design, not after opening.

A terrace is valuable in the cooler months and almost unused in the summer, so it has to earn its rent for part of the year and be easy to close for the rest.

• Shade firstA canopy, a louvred pergola or the mall's own concourse cover makes the terrace usable from mid-morning rather than only after sunset. Where you install your own structure, the landlord's rules on fixing to the facade apply and the drawings are reviewed with the rest of the fit-out.
• Moving airCeiling fans under the canopy and screening on the windward side extend the season at both ends. If you want outdoor cooling on the terrace, it needs water, drainage and power, and the building's rules on it, checked before the terrace is drawn.
• A link to the indoor routeThe terrace is only served well if the pass, the waiter station and the till are near the door to it; a terrace at the far end of the room from the kitchen is cleared late.
• Furniture and floors that take the weatherPowder-coated aluminium frames, synthetic weave seats and cushions in outdoor fabric stored in a built-in bench at night. The floor is a slip-resistant porcelain or a pale composite deck, because dark surfaces are too hot to stand on in summer, and it falls to a drain for the nightly wash-down.
• Sand, dust and the summer close-downDust settles on every surface quickly, so choose furniture that hoses clean, keep soft furnishings removable and plan where the terrace furniture is stored through the summer. Screens and planters mark the boundary of the terrace you have leased and keep it out of the walkway.

In general terms, a leased unit in Dubai comes with the landlord's or the mall's fit-out guide, and the landlord usually reviews the design drawings before work starts and sets working hours for the contractor. Food outlets usually need approvals beyond the landlord's; which apply depends on the location and the scope, and our commercial fit-out team applies for them ourselves. Design and fit-out are one piece of work: the seating plan fixes where power and drainage go, the lighting plan fixes the ceiling, and the kitchen layout fixes the extraction route. In a unit where rent starts before the first cover is served, time lost between a designer and a separate builder is the cost that matters. Our commercial interior design and fit-out run under one project manager from the site visit to handover, with the room shown in 3D first, and our hospitality interior design page covers hotel rooms, lobbies, serviced apartments and holiday homes planned the same way. If you are comparing firms, our guide to choosing a fit-out company in Dubai lists what to ask.