Bifold doors or french windows 1920s house

[SalamanderOnHoliday]

Architect suggesting bifold doors on kitchen extension. It’ll be a kitchen diner on to back garden.

We’ve got separate lounge and din8ng room at front of house.

We’re in the north west, south facing garden. I like the look of bifold doors in other people’s houses. But think that I like french windows more. Am I just being old fashioned?

It’s a pretty period property.

We have wooden bifolds that look like French Doors, would that work?

We’ve gone for French doors in our kitchen diner. I suppose it depends on how big you want them to be as well?

I much prefer French windows on an older house. They're more timeless than bifolds.

First of all how much space is there for the doors. Our choice was bifold or sliders. We went fr sliders as they looked better with less individual farms spoiling the view. It also worked better as it was a long gap and then the vertical blinds stacked back they would have hung over the bi folds.

Another factor is how the sun falls. Our sliders leave a large open gap. It is lovely especially in summer. Most evenings we have them open even if cool. However, we get the sun first thing in the morning. Full on it can be roasting hot and we have the blinds closed. You can feel the heat. However, it moves around very quickly and then we have the warmth but not direct sun into the extension. If I had the sun for a ,rage part of the day going in directly I might have looked for a smaller opening, and then perhaps French doors would work better.

Appreciate it isn't quite what you asked but sun is a big factor, hence why people usually regret getting conservatories.

There’s a conservatory there at the moment which is roasting in the sun, part of the reason for th3 extension is to get rid of that and have a more useable room.

I would choose French Windows as older property so more in keeping.

I also find bifolds very modern. We’ve got a 1920’s house and have French doors in the dining room as it’s a bay and we’ve got sliders in the others (to have more glazing and less frame and not obstruct the view of the garden).

SalamanderOnHoliday - that sounds a really good plan. We had an unusable conservatory at our last property - soooooo hot!! Ironically at our 'new house' we have a back room that faces onto the again south-facing garden. It has patio doors. We have set it up as a snug/reading room and in the summer my daughter and baby grandson sat in there as it was perfect for his playmat and chair. A much more usable space and the doors could be open to the garden on a nice day. So it is lovely but the house is 20 years old so these patio doors need replacing. It won't be bi-folds though as we dislike them and view them as a passing fad. I love the sound of french doors for your kitchen dining room - much more classy and keeping with a period house.

We have a 30s house also in NW and have 4m of bifolds, SW facing garden.

A few things to think about - what will be next / close to doors? How much sun do you get? Do you want blinds / curtains? What will be beyond the doors? Are you overlooked?

Our priority was to have doors which opened completely (ruled out sliders). This summer, we had them open every day. We have composite decking beyond the doors so when they're completely open it looks as though the kitchen diner is twice the size. We have 3 children and use the garden ALOT so the bifolds made sense for us.

We're not overlooked so didnt worry about an expanse of glass. I absolutely didn't want blinds or curtains, but depends how you feel about privacy if you're overlooked. French doors obviously are smaller so more private.

Sun - we have a large tree in the garden so sunshine is dappled if you see what i mean when its strongest, but consider what other glass you have e.g. Velux etc (sister has bifolds plus glass roof lantern + south facing garden and had to install air conditioning). Also kitchen part of kitchen diner is nearest doors and i love having doors open as i potter. Seating area is furthest away from bifolds so we're in a shadier part of the room.

Last thing - security. I am guessing french doors have come a long way recently but they used to be notorious (sweeping generalisation) for being relatively easy to compromise, something to do with the handle and locking mechanism. We purposely went for an option that you cant open from the outside (no handle) which I'm not sure is an option with french doors / sliders.

Thank you getting lots of food for thought.

It’s not overlooked but I’m not sure I want lots of black glass at night ...

French windows or you'll be roasting.

Been having a similar dilemma! I think (hope) I’m opting for triple sliders. Purely because our back garden slopes down and backs onto a wooded area which gives us beautiful views. So I wouldn’t want French doors to block that.
However I did at one point consider a massive oriel window and a single set of French doors although that quickly got discounted in favour of a huge glazed pivot door! Again purely for the expanse of glazing.
I guess it depends what your priorities are! For me it’s unbroken view I think. And also location - we are west facing so while we get full on sun from 12-7 I don’t think it will get too hot as we will be open the doors almost fully.

@puffylovett . Just be mindful of what furniture you have with the sun coming in like that. The sun with large sliders can bleach furniture/fabric very quickly. As I said earlier, we get away with it due to how the sun moves around but if we faced a different direction it would be more problematic

It’s a pretty period property you say OP?
So why ruin it with out of keeping modern bifold doors? Stick with the period look and go for French doors. In 15 years time, when bifolds are viewed like stone cladding or pine effect kitchens, you'll thank me!

@SarahLovesMarmite I've been having this discussion with the architect. He was suggesting that it's better to have something that isn't trying to be a pastiche but that is clearly of a different time.

Bifolds are I think a no, but sliding doors might well work. Having seen a similar house he worked on it does work very well.

But I can't help thinking that I would like French windows and a more orangery feel, just not sure I budget stretches to making it lovely!

PS I agree with you on the bifold doors going to look dated.... but won't everything eventually?

So when I replaced the old windows of my Victorian flat (which had been very neglected and were rotting) with hardwood sash windows, double-glazed, that was a pastiche?

I'm also trying to decide this for our new kitchen. Victorian house, but I'd love the large opening the bifolds would give. But worry they may be a bit naff. Doors will be west facing. Any recommendations for bifold companies please?

Replacement windows aren’t pastiche, but putting on an orangery type extension, unless done beautifully and expensively could be....

My dd has bifold doors on her kitchen extension, in a 1920s house. They make a really lovely sort of picture frame for the garden - it's a v nice garden - and work very well with small dcs in and out, nothing to trip over.

@MarieG10 yes will have to consider that. Although to be fair our extension will be replacing an existing conservatory that’s been in situ for years with various furniture in place and no issues so far. I think we only tend to get 6 hours max full sun in the summer, so not too bad. Heat controlled through opening doors and in the winter we don’t get the full sun due to tree positioning. I gather the solar treated glazing also works really well?
Definitely not something I’d considered though, so will keep in mind.
OP have you decided yet?

@weasle depends on budget - too of the range try express bifolding doors, internorm, maxlight, iq glass. Cheaper aluminium budget options try frameforce, vufold. Key thing for me would be to get as thin a aluminium frame as possible, flush threshold, double glazed obv - triple glazed not worth the extra imo. Thermally broken units.

We’re thinking about getting bifolds on our early 1930s stone built house. We want them in the space where a door and window currently are- it’d be too big for french doors. We’re also considering the impact on the room with the doors open. We’ll be getting them made by the joiner who did our windows in the same frame style. I’m hoping that we are not in either pastiche or “too modern” territory!