Main and entrance doors

Main door design for Dubai homes

The main door is the first thing a visitor touches and the last thing you close at night. In Dubai it also works harder than any other door in the house: it faces sun, sand, humidity and the constant temperature swing between a cooled hallway and a hot porch. A good main door design balances three things: the look you want from the street, the way it feels to open and close every day, and a build that stays straight and quiet for years in this climate.

We make main doors as single leaves, double doors and pivot doors, in widths from a standard 1000 mm up to oversized leaves for villa entrances, and in heights up to the full height of the porch. Each one is drawn for its opening, approved on paper, then made to order and installed by our own team.

Latest main door designs we are asked for

Most briefs in Dubai fall into one of six directions. Modern grooved doors in walnut or smoked oak with horizontal or vertical routed lines and a long pull bar are the most requested for contemporary villas in Dubai Hills, Tilal Al Ghaf and the newer Damac communities. Bookmatched veneer doors, where the grain mirrors across a wide leaf, suit minimal architecture and look best at pivot scale. Classic panelled doors with raised or flat panels and mouldings, often as a pair with ring pulls, belong to the Mediterranean and Arabic villa styles of Arabian Ranches, Jumeirah and the Palm. Geometric veneer doors built from chevron and inlay patterns in two tones, with brass or bronze pulls, give a statement entrance without heavy carving. Glazed entrance doors with a vision strip, sidelights or a fanlight bring daylight into a dark hallway. Arched doors and arched fanlights suit villas with arched facades, and we make the leaf and the frame to the true radius of the opening.

Single, double or pivot

A single main door works for most apartment entrances and for villa openings up to around 1200 mm. Double main doors suit wide villa entrances where both leaves are used on occasions and one leaf is the everyday door; we draw the pair so the meeting stile, the hardware and any sidelights align with the facade. A pivot door turns on a floor and ceiling pivot set instead of side hinges, which lets a very wide, very tall leaf open with one finger and gives the cleanest possible line. If you are weighing a pivot door against a hinged double door, our pivot door page covers the differences in detail.

How we build a main door

Dubai is hard on solid timber. A board that is perfectly flat in a workshop can bow once it sits between a hot porch and an air conditioned hallway. We build main doors on an engineered core, faced in solid timber or a thick veneer, so the leaf has the mass and feel of solid wood with far better stability. Edges are lipped in matching solid timber so the door can be adjusted on site without exposing the core. Frames are made from the same material as the leaf or from a stable hardwood where they will be clad or covered. External doors are sealed on the perimeter and at the threshold so dust and hot air stay outside, and the finish is a UV stable lacquer or a PU paint system rather than a decorative oil that would fade on a sun facing elevation.

Hardware for main doors

A main door needs a lock, a way to pull it closed, hinges or pivots sized to its weight, and a closer if it is required to self close. For modern doors the usual choice is a long pull bar paired with a mortice lock and a smart lock, so the door can be opened by fingerprint, code, card or phone with a mechanical key as back up. For panelled and classic doors a lever on a plate or a pair of ring pulls with a multipoint lock suits the style. Every main door we make is prepared for its hardware in production: the lock case, the smart lock and the hinge or pivot positions are machined before the door leaves the factory. You can browse the handle collections we work with on the hardware pages and choose them in the door designer.

Surrounds, sidelights and fanlights

The opening matters as much as the leaf. A stone surround frames the door and hides the fixing; a timber clad reveal carries the door's finish into the wall; a slim black metal frame gives a contemporary edge. Sidelights in clear, reeded or frosted glass bring light into the hallway without losing privacy, and a fanlight above the door suits taller porches. We measure the reveal on site and draw the surround with the door, so the whole entrance is one composition.

Main doors for apartments and towers

Apartment entrance doors in Dubai towers are usually fire rated by the building's approval, which means the door set must be a certified fire rated assembly, not a decorative door fitted to the old frame. We make fire rated apartment entrance doors in the same finishes as our villa doors, so a walnut flush door with a smart lock can still carry its fire rating and the Dubai Civil Defence certificate the building management will ask for. Our fire rated doors page explains the ratings and the approval process.

What a main door costs

Main doors start from around AED 13,000 for the door itself, and the final figure depends on the size of the leaf, the build (solid core with a veneer press, or fully solid timber), the species, the finish and the hardware. Removal of the old door, installation and the hardware are itemised separately on the quote so you can see what each part costs. Sidelights, fanlights, stone or clad surrounds and smart locks are priced on the drawing. Every quote is for a complete installed door set after the site measure.

Teak for exterior doors

For an entrance door that faces the weather we recommend teak. It is the strongest and most durable of the door timbers, naturally oily, so it resists moisture and movement better than oak or walnut, and it has carried the entrance doors of the Gulf for generations. Teak can be used as a solid timber door with laminated stiles and rails, or as a thick teak veneer press on an engineered core for a large leaf. Walnut and oak remain good choices for covered or recessed entrances and for apartment doors.

Community approval for a new main door

In the managed villa communities, Emaar communities such as Arabian Ranches, The Springs and The Meadows, and Damac communities such as Damac Hills, the main door is part of the approved look of the street, and a change of door design needs approval from the community management before work starts. The rule is about the design, not the condition: you can repolish or refinish the existing door, and you can change its colour, provided the style of the door stays the same. A new door in the same style is usually approved without difficulty. A new design, a different panel layout, a pivot where there was a hinged pair, or new glazing, is the change that needs the no objection certificate. The owner or tenant applies; we supply the drawing and the specification the community asks for, and nothing goes into production until the approval is in hand. Interior doors need no approval anywhere. Our community approval guide and community pages cover what each community usually allows.

Fire rated main doors

Apartment entrance doors and some villa doors need a fire rating. We make main doors as certified fire rated sets, 60, 90 or 120 minutes, with the same veneer, paint and hardware choices as any other door, and supply the Dubai Civil Defence certificate with the set. See fire rated doors.

What happens when you enquire

Send photos of the existing door and rough sizes on WhatsApp or through the designer, and we will give you a guide figure and a direction. Then we visit, measure the opening and the surround, and draw the door for approval. Production starts on signed drawings. Installation includes the frame, the leaf, the hardware, the seals and the final adjustment, and we take the old door away.