Wall of windows/bifold doors question

[shovetheholly]

Am in the earliest stages of planning a kitchen/diner extension, and (like loads of people), I'd love to have floor-to-almost-ceiling windows - around 4m in length. I am not bothered about the lot being bifolding as I am in the grim north where it will only be warm enough to have them all open for 0.5 days a year. A couple of fixed panes and a bit of bifold/some French doors would do - I love my garden and would like to be able to enjoy looking at it in the rain from the warmth indoors.

I hate UPVC, so I'm after something wood or aluminium, quite contemporary. Cost is a factor, because I'm extending in an area with a definite property 'ceiling' and (trying to retain common sense about it) I don't want to spend thousands that I can't then recoup if I need to sell. (I don't mind losing a small amount, though, to get the house the way I want it since it looks like we are staying here for some time). However, I do have definite ideas about what I want the final project to 'feel' like in design terms: for instance, I do not want 3/4 length UPVC windows on a brick plinth, even if they are cheaper!

• What kind of cost am I looking at for these kinds of window?
• For those who do have these windows already - are they freezing in winter? Should I look at u-values quite carefully?
• Is there anything else I should consider?

We have something similar, total cost about £6,000 (though fitting, I think, was extra).

It is a bespoke double glazed fixed frame window with a sliding partition, in aluminium and with the best handle options the firm could offer.

I attach a recent photo.

I think our slate grey aluminium bifold doors which ard smaller than yours at about 2.4m wide/high were about £3,500 inc fitting. We also upgraded handles and hinges to brushed stainless steel as I didn't like the standard ones.

Sorry forgot to add that yes they are very cold to the touch in winter, which I wasn't expecting. It's the metal frames rather than the glass that feels cold.

We have just had these 3.5m anthracite grey 4 panel bifolds fitted, they cost £2650 as negotiated hard on price, builder fitted them for us

Just had some bifolds installed - anthracite grey, Schuco make, 3.8m long,3 folds, with one pane can open to be like a door, triple glazed with integral blinds, which upped total cost to £5,100 including fitting. problem with internal blind though that is being investigated by supplier. u-value is 1.2-1.3. We did spend a lot and probably would not gain it back, however with the new extension, its opened up our garden and is a fantastic space. I think of it like buying a new car. No-one ever needs a brand new car and you will never get all your money back, but hey if its what you want and you get use and enjoyment out of it, go for it.

I am and at your BEAUTIFUL houses. Simply stunning extensions. Also very encouraged as I was thinking they would cost more and fearing the fight discussion with DH about not having cheapo UPVC.

We just went for plain French doors rather than a full wall of bifolds, as if you had a full wall of bifolds you'd be sat looking at the wheelie bins and gas bottles out of one end. Will the bifold doors be your only route out of the back of the house? If so, then expect a pile of shoes/crap to build up by the door as there is nowhere else to put it - have seen this happen in several houses and it spoils the look, IMO.

Very - that is a good point, and one that I had already thought a bit about. My house is a bog standard 20s semi, with the hallway and stairs on the right hand side as you come in. The living room and dining room are to the left of the hall, the current (tiny) kitchen is straight ahead of you as you enter the house at the back. Under the stairs are the usual cupboards/pantry.

The kitchen currently has a side door out into a narrow passageway leading from front to back. I was thinking of moving the wall between understairs pantry and kitchen backward by a metre or so (i.e. cutting into the current kitchen space) to create a larger space for a side entrance. I would then have a built in cupboard for shoes and coats. I'd brick up the existing kitchen door and extend the whole of the back out the maximum 3m permitted, to create a larger add-on kitchen/utility/dining area.

The disadvantage with this would be that by living and dining rooms are already knocked through, so the dining area would then be in the middle away from the front and back windows. Am slightly concerned that this would make it dark, but I hope I could compensate for this by flooding the new extension area with light from these large windows combined with veluxes.

I would LOVE to consider a loft extension at the same time, but my house has two double beds and a box room third bedroom, and I have no idea how to figure out where the stairs would go!

Which way does your back garden face? We had a house that sounds exactly like that. The back faced east. It was a bit dark after the extension, tbh

Can I please hi-jack this thread and ask Kieron79 what your flooring is from in your pic - we're having a near identical extension to the one I see in your picture and I really wanted to carry on floorboards into the extension from the main house. Your boards look lovely (if you don't mind me saying ) so i'd love to know where they are from...

Also loving the bi-fold chat - think we're pretty much decided on grey aluminium for ours, although pinkje's picture makes me wonder whether we should go for sliders....arghhhh, cant decide!

Hi it is engineered wood flooring from a supplier called doors&floors, I will dig out the name of the manufacturer tomorrow and post for you, thanks

We are about to order some doors. We thought we wanted folding sliding doors, and even though we live south, we thought we would probably only fully open them 1.5 days a year. After going to Grand Designs show a couple of weeks ago, we have decided to go with sliding doors on a triple track. Our doors will be about 3m wide only (small house!) so the opening will be 2/3 of the span.

Now, do we spend the money saved on a parquet floor when we may move house in 2 years!

Just checked spare pack on way out, the brand is natures own and it is brushed oak

That's the same floor as us Kieron . I am sitting at breakfast table with bifolds fully open and its really fab! We live in the southwest and I have them fully open most days in the spring/summer/autumn

OP - we've had Kloeber doors fitted. They are aluminium so probably not what you are looking for. They're a German brand and we're very pleased with them and the service we had.

I'd highly recommend whatever you get to consider triple glazing. It's a relatively small cost but after having that we wish we'd done the same with all our windows. It makes an incredible difference. Our kitchen is the warmest room (one entire wall of glass)

Really pleased with our flooring marmitelover, managed to get at trade price too as had flooring throughout hallway so it flowed well throughout the house. Out if interest what do you use to clean it? Currently using handheld dyson

We were going for bi-folds as originally had a space of 3metres. But changed our kitchen design and ended up with a 2metre space for doors instead. Decided against bi-fold as didn't want 3 panes (more frame and less window) and wanted 2 panes instead. Realised that you couldn't have one set door that will open on it's own with two panes and thought might be a faff to fold entire door all the time if you just want to nip out to the bin. So went for french doors instead.

They are Origin Easifold, anthracite grey, and cost bang on 2000. Haven't had the benefit of them just yet as kitchen still being installed. But they look very nice so far!

Hi Kieron - ours goes into hall too. Our fitter suggested cleaning with Bona wood floor cleaner. I buy a big one on amazon every few months and use a 123 Spray and Go mop which I got from waitrose. Seems to work very well

Wish I had gone for the triple glazed option as it is a bit on the cold side in winter

Great, thanks marmite

Thanks for the name kieron79, will check that out asap, looks really lovely.
We too are looking at kloeber bifolds hallyracket.... Do they come out to measure the opening on site? Or do you send measurements.... Sorry if question seems dumb, not sure how it works and our builder told us to only go with a company who will come on site to do their own measurements...

We used a company called bmbifolds, again really pleased with the product. They can supply the doors in any colour on the RAL chart and also do windows and roof lanterns

Ok fab, thanks so much for the v useful info

sugarhoops - Kloeber come to measure. We had an issue with the windows and Kloeber have been very professional and sorted it. We're very pleased with the end result and with Kloeber I must say.

People who come in to our house (well I suppose people who are tradesmen or who know about these kind of things always say"is that German made doors"?) (cos they know!)

we were going to use Kloeber for ours too. visited the showroom, good quality product. we eventually chose a different still, slide and pivot, which suited our small 3m space better.