Bifolds or sliding door

[sycamore54321]

Renovating our kitchen/diner. Will have option of up to 4 metres for doors through to a south-east facing garden. Would you choose bifolds or a sliding door? What are the pros and cons? Thanks

We have bifolds I love them

We can open up the whole wall

I think my heart is leaning towards bifolds alright despite the higher maintenance needs.

How often do you open them? Do you need really fine weather or do you use them in spring/autumn also?

Unpopular opinion but we inherited bifolds when we bought the house and I can’t stand them. When they’re closed, which they are more often than not because british weather, the frames are really heavy and block so much of the view into the garden. Also our garden is teeny cos London and when fully open they take up a good chunk of patio. I’m actually really looking forward to ripping them out when we redo the kitchen. They will be replaced with ultra thin sliding doors with almost invisible frames where the panels stack to open so we can still open up pretty much the whole wall but don’t have to look at the clunky frames when they’re closed. Not sure what you mean by higher maintenance needs though - we don’t do anything to ours except clean the glass.

We are in the middle of our renovation and are having ultra thin frames sliders for all the reasons mentioned above.

I have a Victorian house with a kitchen extension so I've had French windows installed with a half height window either side.
More in keeping with the house and beautifully light

I like sliding doors because when they're closed they have bigger sections of glass and not as much is lost on frames.
If I had my idea garden entrance then I'd have black, slim framed sliding doors onto a lovely patio with a dining area.

I never thought I'd like bifolds but I'm glad DH persuaded me to get them.
The frames don't bother me at all, I like the look of them and I don't find they block the view. We have a large garden so space isn't an issue although I can see how they might not work in a small garden

We have a sliding door between our living room and garden room and children seem to be drawn to meddling with them also love to use their sticky mitts to open them with.

For those who like the ultra thin sliders, could you please link to an example of what you mean? Thanks!

Like these......this isn't my house!

Maybe I was a little harsh before, on reflection I do think it depends on your house. We have a bog standard Victorian terrace so it’s narrow and a teeny patio out back and IMO bifolds just don’t work. However, beautiful wide kitchen and big garden like @LittleOverWhelmed and they look stunning.

We're on our 2nd set of bi-folds. First set were UPVC, clunky, thick frames and just didn't work as well as they should. Replaced them after 10 years with aluminium ones which have narrower frames so look sleeker, glide seamlessly and are just perfect. Love the huge opening into the garden with bi-folds which is why we stuck with them.

We love our bifolds, just being able to open up the whole back wall is wonderful and yes we do it a lot. It’s brilliant for socialising. We don’t miss any view of the garden in my opinion

[quote LittleOverWhelmed]@sycamore54321 Depends what you like - hugely personal.

We are just finishing an extension / renovation and went for bifold doors in the new dining area and snug. What you can’t see is the living room (further on): a previous exterior (by previous owners) which already had aluminium bifolds. So ours really matches in across the rear elevation. I like the structure / framing: to me, it adds interest / detail. Excuse the mess of the garden: drainage and decking issues

I would also say that it depends on the doors: some bifolds will be better than others.[/quote]
That looks gorgeous!

Your garden's amazing

@LittleOverWhelmed

Definitely depends on the house. Here is a photo with them open. It is great (will be better when we eventually get decking!), but probably the British climate doesn’t make you want to throw them wide open too often…

I have house and garden envy

Oh my word. Overwhelmed I love it.

Sliders here. Love them.

[quote LittleOverWhelmed]@sycamore54321 Depends what you like - hugely personal.

We are just finishing an extension / renovation and went for bifold doors in the new dining area and snug. What you can’t see is the living room (further on): a previous exterior (by previous owners) which already had aluminium bifolds. So ours really matches in across the rear elevation. I like the structure / framing: to me, it adds interest / detail. Excuse the mess of the garden: drainage and decking issues

I would also say that it depends on the doors: some bifolds will be better than others.[/quote]
That. It. Beautiful. 😍

I'd go for sliding doors for the superior look when closed. It's personal though as said above - I've never been a 'throw all the doors open & let a million flies & moths in' type :D

@FurierTransform

I'd go for sliding doors for the superior look when closed. It's personal though as said above - I've never been a 'throw all the doors open & let a million flies & moths in' type :D

We actually find we have less flies in the house with the bifolds open - they seem to find their way out easier

I think it does really depend on how you envisage using the space and what your house / garden is like.

We have a similar set up as @LittleOverWhelmed (albeit just one set of bifolds) and 4yrs on, are still pleased with the choice. We have them flush with the floor level outside, so when they're fully open and have furniture outside, it really feels like the garden is a massive extension to the house. We spend quite alot of time in the garden, tend to host in the large kitchen diner / outside etc and have them open pretty much every day from late March to late September etc.

I do also love the sliders that @newmum1976 posted, thats gorgeous too, but with the sliders stacked, a third of that width would be blocked off. That would have been a real compromise for us, given how much we use the garden etc and the feeling we have of outside / in.

I like french doors. We've got (ugly uPVC) French doors with full height windows either side. The windows are open for about 9 months of the year (I'm Scottish, we believe in fresh air), the french doors are open when it's hot. But I think it depends on the house, e.g. I wouldn't have anything but French doors in our period sitting room. A modern extension may be different.

@LittleOverWhelmed & @newmum1976, your kitchen extensions are both gorgeous, what happens at night though, thinking more of a winters night, do you have blinds? Are they within the doors? .