Bi Fold doors, will they date?

[middleagedspread]

On another thread I'm getting the suggestion that bifold doors will be the avocado bathroom suites of the future.
Trouble is, I really fancy them.
We're having a big kitchen/bathroom extension & I thought they'd be great looking onto/accessing the garden.
DH says they might look 'bunched up' when open & is now favouring conventional french doors.
Have you got them & can you offer any opinions? Any downsides?

[Plumandpears]

I think they are already a bit dated. This is only one opinion though. If you are staying in your house a king time, then it is worth getting what you love.

[Pascha]

They're doors! Who cares if they fall out of fashion? I mean, you're going to need some form of door there, so why not those ones? Its not like all the people who fitted them will suddenly be ripping them out on a whim because something else is the next big thing is it?

You might as well worry that your roof tiles are passe...

[BackforGood]

What Pasch said - what does it matter if some style magazine says they are in fashion or not ? .
It's your home, you are going to live there - do the "do it" for you, is the question - do you think they look nice, do they suit your lifestyle ?

[Fallenangle]

Everything has its day, then comes back in. Don't confuse a functional object with colour. An avacado loo was still a loo. The colour is out of fashion not the object. I worked in a victorian building with massive solid plank doors. No one took them out because fibreboard had been invented though I am sure some numtie will have considered it at some point.

[middleagedspread]

OK, thanks for the replies.
I totally understand that if I like them, I should have them regardless of 'fashion', however they are very expensive so I need to make sure that they are practical and that in 10 years time I won't wish I'd had something less trendy.
I'd be interested to know practicalities of them.

[pootlebug]

We haven't had ours that long, but a few factors based on our own doors and friends doors:

1. I think they work well with underfloor heating. Although if you choose well-insulated doors you don't loose too much heat through the glass, if the doors cover a significant wall area that means you can't have a radiator there, and in a large room they can feel cold because they are a long way from heat sources without underfloor heating, if that makes sense. So more of a factor if you are extending and/or knocking internal walls down.
   
   
2. Wood ones can warp slightly making them stiff. A friend has wood and although they still open and shut they require a hefty shove sometimes, especially if it has been raining
   
   
3. There are other possibilities other than bifold....depends on the opening what works best, I think. We have Sunparadise monoslide because we needed to slide them around a corner. Gets them much more out-of-the-way than bifolds withou our layout www.sunparadise.co.uk/Products/monoslide80-moveable-glass-wall.aspx

[middleagedspread]

Thanks pootle, great advice.
I think we will have underfloor heating, that does make sense.
Do you find them very hot when it's sunny? Obviously on hot day you can just open them up. We won't be overlooked & I don't want to have blinds.
We won't have a corner to slide them round, but on the link they all seem to fold back on one another...others that I've seen don't seem so neat.
Interesting info about wood. I'm not sure we'd be allowed anything else due to planning restrictions.

[PigletJohn]

anything that is fashionable today will be out of fashion tomorrow. After two generations it will be prized.

It works for ornate cornicing and for Artex; for cast iron fireplaces and gas fires; for panelled doors and woodchip wallpaper. Same goes for laminated floors and shagpile carpets, lavalamps and candles, and for stainless appliances and plastic doors or windows.

[GreenEggsAndNichts]

If this matters: the house we just bought has bifold doors between the living and dining areas. They're from the 70s probably.

Get them if you want them. :) Honestly, as others have said, just get whatever you like. Everything we do to ours houses is going to look dated 20 years from now.

FWIW- I can keep these doors, and some of the light fixtures, but the avocado bathroom suite IS going to go. There's dated, and then there's dated. :)

[PigletJohn]

I quite like folding doors between kitchen and dining areas. Might have them myself one day.

[MrsJREwing]

I think they will date, they give great light and are modern now so go for it!

[middleagedspread]

Thanks all. I do love them & think they will work well in the space.
If, in 20 years, I hate them there are bound to be alternatives.

[impecuniousmarmoset]

Of course they'll date:) They're also fantastic and let in a ton of lovely light - go for it!

We're in a conservation area and had no planning issues with aluminium, incidentally.

[pootlebug]

Conservation area here too but no problems with aluminium at the back of the house

[Deux]

Crikey, I really hope they are not on the way out as I've just ordered some. . Gun metal grey aluminium.

I did have a wobble and thought of going for sliders.

Why are you having bifolds?

I'm having them so that we can open up the walls, not have any kind of trip bar and waft around with a G + T in the summer in a kaftan with the Sonos on full blast. (Not that I've bought the Sonos yet. It's going to be my reward for getting through the building work unscathed. )

I just keep saying to myself that I can't do that with any other type of door.



Maybe we need a support group?

[middleagedspread]

No, Deux, you NEED them.
Mine will lead from my always immaculate kitchen onto the perfect weed free garden. Swap your kaftan for flip flops (with perfect pedicure) & we can listen to the waves crashing on the beach..err, 40 miles away, late into the eternal summer's evening whilst sipping exotic cocktails.
Support group is an excellent idea, I'm wondering about applying for lottery funding.

[MadameMattise]

Oh Gawd "aluminiumexpert" has almost given me a panic attack remembering about dealing with window and patio door salesmen.

Aluminium expert - Irish ?

BTW we chose to get sliding doors ( I know they are considered passe) because of the palaver of opening bi-folds.

[superram]

Everything will date so you might as well have what you like now. We are getting sliding because there is less frame and more glass and I am cold mortal and would never pull bifold all the way back.

[burnishedsilver]

Everything dates.


I'm in Ireland. We dont have the climate for opening up the whole back of the house to the garden. Here they are and are a fad......an avocado suite.

Dh is from Australia and, come to think of it, there they are also impractical. The house would be full of flies.

They are lovely if you live in a sunny area with no insects otherwise the are an expensive gadget.