Door Styles - Your guide on choosing the right Door!

Door Styles

We will start off with French Doors. What is a French door? A French Door is a stile & rail door with one or more panes of glass . Below is the definition of what a stile & rail door is.

Stile & Rail Door - Frame & panel. The vertical members of the frame are called stiles while the horizontal members are known as rails. A basic frame & panel item consists of a top rail, a bottom rail, two stiles, & a panel. This is a common method of constructing cabinet doors & these are often referred to as a five-piece door.

French Door: A door with glass panes throughout its length.

True divided lights or simulated divided lights. A door with true dived light means that if you have a multi-light door then each piece of glass is a pane of glass. If the door is simulated divided light that means that the door has one pane of glass with mounting bars in a pattern over the pane of glass giving you the illusion of many glass panels.

Panel Doors

Panel Doors are also stile & rail doors just like French doors but with a formed wood panel as an insert instead of glass. These panels can be raised, recessed, or flat. The panels can also have either oval or square sticking to frame in the panel. Doors with Square Sticking are also known as “SHAKER STYLE DOORS”

Dutch Doors

A Dutch Door is a door cut in half with or without a shelf. This door is an old-style door that has an upper leaf that operates separate from the bottom leaf. This was found on barns in the 50’s so that the horse could stick their head out while still keeping the barn stall closed. These doors will have two locks one on the top and bottom leaf, a shelf to set things on, & a bolt to connect the two door leaves together.  

Mirror Doors

A Mirrored Door is a door that you can see your reflection in. Pretty simple!

Pantry Doors

A Pantry Door is typically a door that gets installed on a walk-in Pantry that has Pantry or a basket of fruit or similar objects sand blasted on the glass.

Combination Doors

Combination is door with a window and a screen installed that allows air to come into the house when the window is open but the door remains closed.

Flush Doors

A Flush Door is a flat door with no design or any glass. This is typically used in modern design home and sometimes hung with invisible or Butt hinges for the most part. Theses style doors are typically reserved for commercial or multi-Family (Apartment Buildings)

Wardrobe Doors

Wardrobe Doors provide an entrance to a non-walk-in closet. They will also be mirrored for viewing yourself. They will come in a range of sizes, colors, and glass designs. Choose Wisely!

Barn Door

Barn Door can be any door imaginable, it is up to you. The application for a barn door is where there is no room for a swinging door or a designer/home owner have a look in mind. Barn doors roll on a track that is surface mounted to the outside or the inside of a dry-walled opening. The track & hardware is either stainless steel & looks kind of modern or its rustic in nature. The door is a little wider than the door where there is some overlap and the track is twice as long as the door is wide to enable the door to clear the opening.

Pocket Doors

Pocket Doors are very like barn doors except they are in the wall and the cost is a lot less. With a pocket door, the wall thickness is needed to properly build the frame to accept the pocket door. Any door you like can be used as a pocket to an either 1 3/8” or 1 ¾” door. This cannot be an afterthought and must go up during construction, due to the fact this is built into the wall.

Entrance Doors

This is where I really can’t define an entrance door with a style. An entrance door is the entrance to a dwelling but is only limited to your imagination. It is (Notice I didn’t say typically) 1 ¾” thick not an 1 3/8” like the interior doors. The entrance door will have two points of locking a knob lock and deadbolt. Don’t skimp on your protection by using a locking device with a latching device (Non-Locking). You can save money in some places but not on your safety & security. Here are some samples of entrance doors:

Imports vs. Domestic

I will never say anything poor about a company. Truthfully the import of domestic really doesn’t matter a whole lot. Here is what does matter.

• Manufacturer/Supplier Integrity

• Manufacturer’s Warranty

• Reviews on a blog or yelp etc.

The manufacturer/supplier integrity are crucial. Will they stand behind their product if something goes wrong or will they be a finger pointer & not cover your door. Are they falsifying prices to make themselves look good?

We will skip any warranties that exist in the market because let’s face it, they are all different.

I am not a big Yelp user, but look at any reviews you can see. Contact the reviewers if they’ll talk to you. See why they are unhappy with their personal experiences.

What I am trying to do is protect my readers from making a bad or uninformed decision.

Make sure that you can look at the door prior to purchase. It may not be a good idea if you are buying a door you can’t look at & it must be shipped to you.

Remember the Latin saying "Caveat Emptor" (Let the buyer beware). Remember this saying when you're ready to make your purchase.

Article by: Robert Deahl
Windows & Doors Professional
Feb 18, 2020
Sales: 323.617.5535

Need assistance? contact Robert directly: Cell: 818.457.2411