To bifold or bifold

[shebird]

I know this has probably been discussed lots already but I need some opinions on bifolds please. We are planning a open plan kitchen/diner extension and we have space for a 3 panel bifold door opening onto the garden. I am now questioning if this is the best option and if perhaps French/ patio doors might be best. My main concerns are;

• there is a step down from the house to the outside patio so will we achieve the seamless inside/ outside look.
• the room is west facing so gets lots of sun but will a wall of glass make the room like a sauna on hot days when we don't wish to open the doors
• this is to be the main access door to the garden, are these doors practical for lots of use
• cost, from what I read uPVC is no good and aluminium is the best but not cheap

I would appreciate hearing your words of wisdom as I am very confused.

Me too!

Though I am leaning towards French doors for all the reasons you've mentioned.

I have been cautioned by a friend that I should make sure that the doors swing back through 180 degrees to be secured, as if not, they will sway and bang in the wind, especially if front door open.

I've just had bifold doors fitted and I LOVE them At the moment we have a big step down, but we will have a deck that's flush with the floor. Our right hand door is the traffic door, so this can be opened and closed without opening the remaining doors. It's been lovely with this weather and we have had them fully open most of the time - not sure what it will be like yet when it rains though. We went for aluminium with integral blinds. They were expensive but I am so pleased with them that I think it's worth it.

Following!

We have a patio door we need to replace and it's too wide for a normal French door, and I don't want lots of vertical lines from lots of panels.

I don't know anyone who has bifold doors so hope to pick up some tips. Ours would also step down onto a patio rather than onto the flat.

We really don't want to have decking and want to keep the patio if possible. Would this just ruin the whole look of bifolds as the idea seems to be that the inside flows seamlessly outside?

Been looking at triple sliding patio doors online today as an alternative to bifolds. Looks like you could achieve the same look as bifolds and could open back to 2/3rds of the opening so almost the same effect for hopefully less cost. Interested to hear if anyone has used these?

We really wanted bi-fold doors, but like you, have a massive step to the ground. We are starting our extension next month and have gone for French windows and a large widow either side. I think bi-folds work best when the floor inside is the same as outside (even if that's decking). We would prefer to have patio too.

I would look at these.

slide and pivot

They are great value, have amazingly slim sight lines and you can open one door only if you like. We have them and are really thrilled. I am an architect and have often specified bi-folds (although I far prefer multi track sliding doors) but these are way better.

Shebird, we have patio doors. Aluminium, 2 in the middle that slide in front (or behind !) of the other 2 glass panel. The width is around 15 ft.

We are really pleased with them & we only have 3 lines (4 panels if glass) rather than at least 5 if we'd chosen bi folds.

We also step down to our patio, which is fine - so busy admiring the garden there is no focus ! I think it also prevents dust, leaves etc from coming in.

Thanks for the link mootime these look interesting. Are bid folds a bit of a current fad maybe?

Willowisp i agree it seems that you can achieve the same effect with less lines than bifolds. I am also keen not to let too much of the outside in. The local seagulls for example

I think bifolds are really waiting for a revamp. They can be quite clunky and have really heavy sight lines which is why I prefer a sliding door system or this slide and pivot system. I have to say that I can't fault them, we get loads of compliments (and people knock on the door to ask where they are from!) and they look like a much more expensive system.

mootime - only managed a quick look on my phone so can't see much detail, but really like the look of these for external and internal room divider. from what I could see of the video it just looked too simple, is there a catch? how secure are they? many thanks if you get the time to reply

Really secure and no catch. Honestly they are great. A really clever and simple design. They don't have external handles so the lock is just a window lock.

But they have 5 point locking within the door like a door.

We have a three panel bifold with a step down to a patio and have no problems. Opening all the doors up in this weather has been great. Ours also get a lot of sun in the afternoon and it does make the room hot. With hindsight integrated blinds may have been a better option. We have vertical blinds which gather at the end away from the door. They are fine, it was too hot to have nothing at all. I do like the look of the ones linked by mootime though....

It depends on how much you spend.

Sunfold do bifold doors that can have an access door-- ie, you can open it like an ordinary door for day to day use very easily.

Given the step-down, sliding doors might be a better option for you though.

French doors in my view are the most sympathetic with a period house and are less likely to date.

With that said, I love my bifolding doors!

For me it is all about the view so the least it is broken up the better which means bi folds are out - I am into the biggest paned, slimmest framed door you can get -- also doors should be odd numbers - ie 3 massive panels as the eye is always naturally drawn to the centre...and if you have even numbers the eye is drawn to the handles and frames....

You can get large bifold panes, though they are more costly. We only used 3 panes and have a side return extension and they more or less cover the entire rear wall into the garden.

You can also get very thin framed bifolds but again they are very expensive.

You can get glass treatments to help with solar gain for a west facing room but again at an extra cost!

We considered sliding doors but the ones sunfold do are even more expensive than their bifolds and we couldn't justify the cost.

just wanted to thank mootime for recommending the slide and pivot door system. went to see the factory at Luton yesterday and very impressed. beautifully elegant and simple, much nicer than a bifold. we'll definitely be ordering them. thanks again

Hi,

Sorry - a bit late into this thread. I am also seeking to do a kitchen extension and am looking at a few threads. Am I mistaken that one thread is saying Sunseeker is rubbish as I would love to have their slide and pivot door system