Bi-fold doors - Are they worth it?

[shebird]

We are planning a kitchen extension and considering having bi fold doors leading to the garden. I am concerned about whether these are actually worth the money if they can only rarely be fully opened. French doors would be a less expensive option but these wouldn't have the wow factor. I would love to hear from anyone who has bifolds to know if they work and if they are worth it.

We have two sets - a three door and a five door. Five door opens up one wall onto the garden, three door is from the kitchen to garden.

They are so worth it, this summer we had them open every day pretty much and it feels so open and fresh and light, great for children playing in and out.

We shopped around for ours and they cost £7k for both - £3k for the 3 door and £4k for the 5. Great quality and very happy.

good french windows can look very stylish and upmarket

I think bi fold doors will date a property. I would go for a floor to ceiling window and some good French door/windows.

We're putting them in - ours are pretty cheap though. They're about £1500 for 2.8m of door. If they date the property then we'll replace them at a later date (probably will anyway as we can only afford cheapo ones right now). I can't see them dating for a few years though, and probably no more than my oak flooring or the high gloss kitchen ;)

Bifold doors are a current bandwagon. Feel free to jump on....personally I think French Doors look just as good (and they let you have side windows open without having to have a whole door ajar).

We had a contemporary townhouse and put them in, we used to open one panel like a regular door and I had the whole lot open fully because of the design of the patio and having 3 small children in and out.

We now live in a Victorian terrace and are looking into french doors. I think it would very much depend on the style of your property and the rest of the doors and windows.

Everything dates a property though - half timbers, low ceilings, stained glass, Formica breakfast bars.....unless you mean date in a negative way?

Our house is a 50s build, amazing views over beautiful countryside so made sense for us. I could see putting bi folds in a Jacobean Manor might be controversial.

I love ours. But then I love my oak kitchen worktops so I expect my bandwagon has left.

I wrote a long reply yesterday it the site froze, and I lost it!

We are having French doors in our new extension. Several reasons, including cost. Whilst I love the look of bifold doors at the moment and opening them up to the garden is a lovely idea, I question how much we'll actually use them like that and will probably get more use from a more traditional door. French suits the age of our house better and I worry there's a hint of the avocado bath suite about bifolds!

Thanks for all your replies I can see a case for both and I am still undecided. I worry that with our garden being west facing that the wall of glass will make the room really hot when it is not always practical to open all the doors. Also do you block out the out the sun when shade is needed as blinds would not look good?

We had roller blinds with a panel at the top to hide them, but hardly used them.