If bifold is out… which doors should we have?

[Whichdoorhelp]

Inspired by the thread about what not to have in your home (bifolds)

Which door style do you prefer from the 3 attached images (from Pinterest).

1.Sliding
2.French doors
3.A mix of above

Designing/renovating a ‘traditional’ looking house similar to the images and we are south facing if that makes a difference.

Honestly, choose what YOU like. I purposely haven't read that thread as I already know what it will consist of: fake grass, grey, ensuites and islands. The ensuite thing makes me laugh as people on here like to make out they'd happily choose 1 bathroom over 2, if 1 were an ensuite. Personally I'd prefer an extra bathroom rather than an ensuite, but sometimes that's not possible.

I don't find things like bifolds and islands a trend. Islands are practical if you have a large kitchen and bifolds offer a way to open up a huge space and create a seamless transition to the garden. Large sliders will have less frame cutting into your view, so it really depends what you prefer.

I have French doors and they're a ball ache to be honest. I have the hooks to keep them open but it's a faff to have to go out and sort them... then when it starts pissing down, to have to get wet to shut them.

I'd just do lots of research before getting bifolds, as the mechanisms seem to fail frequently in some.

We have sliding with the three panels and I'm very happy with them. In UK we don't want the whole back of house open very often! Frames much smaller than bifolds so view better the majority of the time.

Separately, if south facing do pay for special glass that will reflect the heat and reduce solar gain. Very very pleased we did that.

We chose sliding doors as 1) not many days we could fully open doors and 2) it gave us more floor space - it would have been a bit tight to keep the space necessary to open up the bifolds. It also means I can use the static panes to put very large house plants in front of and large pots outside.

But if I had a larger space I'd absolutely go for whichever I liked more.

Friends have bifolds and they are great. The house the same age as ours (1900s) down the road chose French windows in keeping with the age of the house and it looks lovely.

Go with what you like.

Have bifolds if you want them. They may be a ‘trend’ but they also serve a purpose in that you are able to open the whole glazed portion and have a lovely indoor/outdoor feel in the summer. I’ve had French doors and sliding doors and neither are as nice as the bifolds we currently have.

Have what you want, if it's bi-folds then good on you. I always like french doors that can be hooked open, they work for me and thats all that matters.

Im surprised how many people say you can't have the bifold open very often. I mean it obviously depends on the orientation of your house but in summer we have our kitchen ones fully open almost permanently (although we have a covered terrace right outside so if there is a brief shower we can keep them open).

@user09876543 where do you live?

I'm in North West and there's probably 2 months a year when you could reliably have the doors open more often than not all the way. They are south facing.

I would think about how often you want them open and on a day to day basis how are you going to use the doors…letting a dog out, going to a garden office, kids running in and out. Bifolds are great for parties but a pita for quick in and outs. They let lots of light in but the track can get gunked up easily.

My favourite option is lots of almost floor to ceiling windows with a window style door at a convenient point for foot traffic at one point for everyday use and then a second matching door at a second point that can be opened if you have lots of people and need the circulation. They then all get framed and trimmed with moldings to make them look like they are built as a set iyswim..sorry if my terminology is a bit US!

French doors always look lovely imo
or sliders for practicality
bi-folds might put me off a bit, but as others say, it’s your house so choose for your taste.

Whatever you want. We’ve just had critical French doors put in. Make more sense to me than sliding as with sliding you only get half the width open don’t you? I dunno, I didn’t do much research.

But we’ve also just put in an island and they’re apparently on the way out but I DGAF about trendiness so maybe my opinion counts for naught 😂

I would choose sliding doors with slim frames if you want the garden to be what you look at

Or french doors/crittal if you want the doors to be the feature

It makes me laugh when people say bifolds and grey windows are a 'trend'. Both have been going strong for 20 years or so, and show no signs of going anywhere.

To answer your question. I wouldn't have french doors - feels like a wasted opportunity to me. If you've got a nice big space, I'd always go sliders or bifolds. And of those 2, it comes down to the practicalities, and your preference.

Sliders - don't need space to fold them back, but you can only open part of the aperture. No big vertical lines blocking the view.
Bifolds - if you have the space to fold them back, that's great. Being able to open the whole of the opening is brilliant (we have them on a north facing wall and open them a LOT). Having easy access through a normal door as part of it is a big plus. If you want uninterrupted views, then you don't get that with bifolds.

If you wanted them before you read that thread yesterday, then your reason for wanting them is probably still there and valid. I'd take that thread with a whole salt cellar of salt

South facing I’d have bifold. We’ve got three sets. They are just wonderful in the summer. Never had any problems with them

This absolutely, we had French doors at a previous house, essentially they were open or closed, there was no in between.

Having somewhere to attach them to when open was an issue and the space they took up.

I have a sliding door now, it can be opened to let air in but still be locked and when it's open it doesn't need securing.

Oo following with interest - we are also south facing and deciding on doors for an extension that will replace a conservatory. French doors are so pretty but I don't know how modern they look on a new extension or what blinds to have (we roast in the summer). Sliders seem trendy now but so old fashioned? Not keen on bifold really ...

It depends on the room and what you want to achieve
This!
I absolutely love my bifolds. I'm in the SE and the garden is south facing. It's a small house with side/rear extension and I adore the free flow space when the doors are fully open. Great for children, great for entertaining, great for me to sit in the shade inside house but feel the fresh air of being outside. Had them 16 years and never regretted them. Sliding doors or french windows can look fab but wouldn't give me what I love about opening the whole back of the house.
I have a separate small sitting room at the front (north) of the house so have options if needed.

My French doors handle fixes them open a certain amount when you put the handle down. I'm not explaining very well, but you can open them a crack from the inside and they don't blow shut - very handy when the cat is in one of her in/out/in/out moods.

Sliding doors have a life though, they're lovely at first but then inevitably they get harder and harder to slide. You had to pretty much lift our old ones out of the runner to close them.

We've got bifolds but with one normal opening door so easy to go in and out without having to start sliding them. We'll see if they last any longer than normal sliding doors.

Love our bifolds but we shopped around. The first ones we looked at wouldn’t have been fit for purpose and looked like I could break in pretty easily. Ours are more industrial and very solid. The stacking isn’t an issue because we have the room.

I hate the look of sliders so French doors would be my alternative. I’ve seen crittal mentioned on MN over and over but you’d have to really love cleaning all those corners.

We have lived in a south facing sun trap for more than 30 years, began with sliders which swelled and were difficult to close in the heat.
Now we have French doors without hooks - there is no problem in them staying open even with coastal gusts. Consider the width of the aperture as you might need extra panels at the side of French doors.

Not at all helpful, but we rented an amazing villa in the Balearics a couple of years ago and the doors and windows, including most of the internal doors, slid into the walls, so they just disappeared when opened. I thought they were great, but not ever seen similar here.

Thanks all your comments.
I prefer sliding slightly as we have a ‘view’ (hills). Was concerned about a lot of glass with south facing.
We have x2 4m openings plus a smaller double (photo is a snippet of our plans). Points noted about French doors - although I do like traditional look and compliments rest of style of house. I’m torn.

We have just replaced a conservatory with an extension and put sliders in cos we wanted to be able to,open them just a
title for fresh air etc. it’s north facing.

Pocket doors?? They’re around. They require greater wall thickness I believe so take away some internal space a lot of the time. Not loads but these things make a difference.

@cashmerecardigans I have one static pane and two that slide, so three windows - preferred this than two and a frame bang in the middle. So when the two openers are open i have 2m-ish open