Does anyone regret bifolds?

[NameyMcNameName]

I’m looking at my extension plan and wondering if anyone has ever regretted their bifolds? I will have a patio and hopefully veranda so bifolds will be lovely in the summer, but what about winter? What if you just want to open them a little?

Not everyone can afford Crittal.Would love them but way out of my budget.They are gorgeous though.

We avoided them as everyone seemed to have them, we wanted the wall space and have a south facing kitchen. The room is hot even with blinds over French doors and skylights. I think they’re overdone, like the plantation shutters, where I live (1930s London terraces).

I think Crittal windows are the new bifolds, seem to be everywhere, hotels, restaurants, all types of homes, big and small, often used badly in interior and exterior design..

Love ours, love that in summer the back room and garden become one large area with no frames in sight. Great for entertaining

Proper Crittal windows and doors are fiendishly expensive I think you mean faux Crittal: https://theheritagewindowcompany.co.uk/products/aluminium-doors/.
Agree these are just as revolting as bifolds and are equally fake looking. London restaurant and office buildings will generally have real Crittal - which in my opinion suits industrial environments very well if done nicely.

We have wooden frames instead of upvc. We do get a lot of insects in when they are open. Even when they are not open I just love the amount of light and the fact you can see out to the garden . No regrets

My friend has bifolds and says exactly the same.
They use the single door, I have literally never seen the bifolds open because he says insects flood in. The room gets really hot in summer.

We chose aluminium sliders. Great quality, versatile opening for our cats and a lovely uninterrupted view of the garden. I'm really pleased with them.

We have bi-folds on two walls of our southwest facing kitchen. I love them. We have them open a lot and never have an insect problem. We are in the south east of England so maybe it depends on where you live? This year, since the end of March they have been open most days. Our kitchen does get warm if we are not there to open the doors but as soon as they are opened it gets cooler. It's lovely on a sunny winters day to have so much light flooding in.

We went for sliding doors instead. I didn't understand how bifold doors were meant to stack up without blocking off another window, or bit of the patio or just generally being in the way.

We’re wondering about this too. The posters who are saying they’ve gone for French doors and window seats - what do you / they mean by this? We’ve got 2 French doors (cheap ones) either side of a load-bearing wall a metre wide. Wondering whether to knock out the wall and put in sliding doors, bi folds or much better quality French door. Am intrigued by the window seats though! We’re south-facing and total opening would be about 6/7m if we knock out the wall.

We have sliding doors with 3 panes. We are north facing and it give us loads of light and a wonderful view of the garden, which backs onto a park with huge trees. The 3 panes mean we only have two lines that break up the view (unlike crittal). We don’t open the doors often at all but we got them for the light and view.

I haven't read every reply.
We recently renovated and have 2, massive sets. 1 off the kitchen/diner and 1 off a games room.

When they are open, I love the view and fresh air. There is very little fame visible with them fully open. We had the patio made at the same height, so it looks/feels seamless.

My downsides:
-We have clips that hold the door open when fully opened (the access door I mean). BUT, if there is a sudden, moderate gust of wind, the door has been known to unclip and slam shut with force. I worry that the dog or someone's finger will be caught and injured when this has happened.
-When we open the access door, we need to keep hold of the door because it acts as a massive sail and will just slam if not being held onto. If you have younger children, I'd avoid for this reason alone because when the wind catches them, they really do take some force to hold onto.
-Even with the doors wide open, we get flies circling in the kitchen and seemingly unable to find their way out again. I have traps outside, sprays and all manner of things which only help marginally.
-When we got the doors, I asked about fly screens, but the shop staff looked at me sideways. IF we'd had a sliding door instead, I could leave it partially open and have a screen sitting on the top.
-Leaving a sliding door only partially open, would also be helpful because we have a dog who likes to go in and out all the time.
-We too had an issue finding blinds wide enough to fit, so had to buy 3, separate sets.

I do like them, but, have since seen some very wide sliding panels with minimal frames, which would give a similar effect and negate the danger of them suddenly slamming shut.

Yes I can’t imagine sitting in a room with a vast expanse of the house exposed to the elements etc, I also really dislike how all houses look when bifolds are completely open, like half the house has been demolished leaving a massive gaping hole, much prefer the look of French doors.

I think it depends on the space you have, the light and room. I have 3 pane bifolds, like in pic, as that suited the space better then french doors which would have needed 2 narrow windows on either side. I quite like them, they fold nicely out of the way to one side of the patio. Most of the time we just use the first door, but its lovely to have right open when you have people over and theyre wandering in and out.

Forgot to attach!

Those are a lovely colour. What brand are they, please?

husband is a builder and refused point blank to allow me bi folds in our new house. he said they don't last not practical and he has fixed or replaced a few all ready. I went for large sliding doors instead he put a canter lever in all around so doesn't get too hot. I love them now as in morning I open them a bit and further as day goes on..enough space for dogs to go on and out and they slide back into each other so not taking up space when open. cleaning them is a pain. but worth it.

it doesn't feel like that. mine are floor to ceiling and have some view out of it. even in the lashing rain wind and hail the view is unreal. when they are open then it's like one big open room including the patio. I have very thin bars in mine plus slim line handles so nothing obstructs the view. no grim dust leaves etc at all

What I really can't understand is when someone goes to the expense of putting in bifolds and the view out of them is hideous, such as the backs of ugly houses with absolutely no planting or garden to look at.

I love our bi-folds, we put them in mine years ago and while I'm not an outdoorsy person and will be inside more than I'm out in summer, I love having the bifolds open white I'm on the sofa, so I get the fresh air without having to be out in the sun.

They are also great for expanding the patio/living room into each other for parties or BBQs and make it really easy for the kids to be encouraged to go outside to play.

We don't have blinds in ours, they face NNW so we don't really get direct sun but we have lots of light in the room thanks to the bifolds.

Ours have casued nothing but problems, would far rather have crittle like the neigbours.

I love ours. I think it depends on the size of your house. It really does bring the outside in when you have a small place but for larger houses / gardens french doors probably look better.

We don’t have bifold as didn’t want them impeding the space either inside or outside when opened and also like you say would probably only want them opened a little bite most of the time. We got sliding doors instead and love them, so much like, take up less room and can have them opened/ closed as much as we want. Also blinds can be a nightmare with bifold, as just god roller blinds and they work really well for keeping heat out.

Sorry, did I ask for your opinion (or your juvenile attempt to patronise me)? I merely asked you to explain your logic in objecting to “too much framing” given the illustration you provided as an alternative. If you can’t, that’s fine.