French doors, made to measure

Where the back door layout has one door opening outwards, French doors put a second one beside it. Both doors open outwards from the middle, so the whole width can be cleared — unlike a sliding patio door or a bifold door, where part of the glass always stays in front of the opening or folds against the side. It does need room outside for two doors to swing open.

The standard size is 1,600 × 2,200 mm. That is narrower than a sliding patio door or a bifold door, but with no tracks or folding hardware — a simpler and often cheaper way to get a wide opening onto the garden if you don't need the full width of a sliding patio door.

Two leaves of 800 mm each are lighter and easier to use than a single 1,600 mm door would be — the other reason to choose French doors, besides the completely clear opening. For everyday use you usually open only one of the two; the other stays in reserve for when you need the full width, to carry furniture outside, for example.

French doors are a traditional form, found more often in older and period-style houses than in new builds, where a sliding or bifold door is more usual. If that traditional look is what you are after, this is the layout among ours that comes closest; if you mainly want the widest opening with the least hardware on show, a bifold or sliding patio door is the more modern choice.

For this layout, measure the full width of the opening in one go; the configurator splits it equally between the two leaves. When planning, allow for both doors swinging outwards at the same time — with paving or a patio right behind the doors, that can mean planning the patio around the doors.

You choose colour and finish for both doors together — most people have them identical for a symmetrical look. Maintenance doubles compared with a single door: two sets of hinges and two locks instead of one, though in practice one leaf is often used daily and so checked more often than the other. At the yearly check, don't forget the leaf you rarely open, because a hinge that never moves is the one that seizes.

When renovating a house with a traditional character, French doors are often the form that does most justice to the existing look, where a sliding patio door would give a more modern contrast. In a new build, people sometimes choose them deliberately when the budget or the available width rules out a sliding or bifold door, but an opening wider than a single door is still wanted.

For security, you have two doors here, each with its own lock, and that is exactly where attention is needed: the leaf you rarely open must lock just as well as the one you use every day. Ask for a multi-point lock on both leaves if you want to put extra weight on this.

Each leaf carries its own weight on its own hinges, independently of the other. The configurator checks for each leaf whether the hardware suits the door design you choose and the size.

Still not sure? Use the comparison with the other layouts in this group, above, to see which arrangement suits your situation best.