What’s your door style?
19th April 2023 - By Jason Clemmit
When it comes to doors, the options are almost endless. Even the range of front door styles available is enough to spoil you for choice. But you are the only person who can decide which door styles are right for your home.
With a list of considerations to think about, including materials, glazing, and design, not to mention the functionality you want to benefit from, it can sometimes get a little overwhelming. But we’re here to help. Read on to discover the difference between French and stable doors, patio, and bi-folds, and understand that flush doors aren’t designed for toilets.
The first important matter when choosing the right door style is whether it’s for the front or back of your home. We’ll start with the different front door styles for this guide.
Entrance door styles
Although we’re calling these entrance doors, these front door styles are equally at home as back doors. Also known as panel doors, these are the most popular and common type of door in the UK.
Traditionally made from timber, uPVC front doors came to the fore in the mid-1980s and soon dominated the urban landscape. However, composite doors arrived in the UK in the late 1990s and have since stolen the mantle.
Because a composite door is made up of various materials, including uPVC, wood, foam, and glass-reinforced plastic (GRP), it makes it a superior product in performance, security, durability, and appearance compared to its predecessor – but this does make them more expensive as a result.
Aluminium and steel entrance doors are growing in popularity, especially for those looking to make a real architectural statement. Timber front doors, while never truly going away, are also becoming more commonplace with advances in timber technology and are particularly stunning in traditional properties.
Whatever material you choose for your front door, each offers different qualities and benefits – cost, specific aesthetics, level of maintenance, and thermal efficiency – one thing they all have in common is the wide variety of options available.
Choose from a broad spectrum of colours, finishes, furniture, and number of panels – not to mention whether you’d like a solid, half or part-glazed door. There’s also a great choice of glazing styles and decorative glass designs – and you can even have matching toplights and sidelights if you have an oversized door opening.
Flush doors
A flush door is basically a panel door without the panels, offering a simple, sleek appearance ideal for contemporary properties.
With a plain surface on both sides, flush doors fit plumb into the frame for a flat exterior when closed, unlike standard entrance doors, which overlap the frame slightly. Often glazed and a good choice for back doors or garden rooms.
Stable door
The stable door is a popular choice for rural properties, particularly as a kitchen door that opens up to the outside.
Ideal for cottages and homes out in the country, the stable door style has been around for hundreds of years – it enables you to open the top and bottom of the door independently or as a whole, perfect to achieve ventilation while keeping animals out or children in.
French doors
Another timeless choice when it comes to door styles is French doors. These are an ideal option if you’re looking to add a little je ne sais quoi to a home.
French doors are two hinged doors that open from the middle. Traditionally designed to open outwards onto balconies from the 17th century in France, they are now a popular feature in various applications in modern homes and provide a perfect transition from inside to outside, creating that much sought-after open-plan space and encouraging natural daylight.
Bi-folding doors
Bi-folding doors have been one of the most aspirational additions to modern homes over recent years, enabling you to open up an entire wall and enjoy your garden as an extension of your indoor living space.
Particularly popular in kitchens and conservatories, a bi-fold door consists of several panels, or leafs, that open by folding and sliding along a track, sitting flat against a wall. Available in a huge choice of configurations and the option of folding internally or externally, bi-folding doors come in many different materials, finishes and styles.
Sliding doors
Sliding or patio doors are a popular choice with homeowners looking to gain more space and add some versatility to their property – another excellent way of creating that open-plan feeling and opening a home to the garden.
Consisting of two or more panels, where one panel slides past another along tracks, sliding doors can have up to four panels, with one or two sliding to create an opening.
This door style is ideal for a patio or conservatory, and superior slim sightlines provide an expanded view of the outdoor space.
Lift and slide doors
Lift and slide doors are very similar to sliding doors, with the only difference being that, unsurprisingly, they need to be lifted before they slide. The door handle operates a mechanism housed within the door panel, which ‘lifts’ the door to take the main weight off the rollers.
This makes lift and slide doors incredibly effortless to slide open, no matter how big and heavy the glass units are. The easy operation of these doors makes them ideal for those who need ease of use, such as the elderly.
If you have any further questions about all the different door styles available and what’s right for your home, click here to search for your nearest Certified Competent installer.