I have the same dilemma with my slider off the kitchen. I personally like the silhouettes or other shades that essentially pull from the side like a panel.

I also like the pleated ones that are simply cover each glass panel. Houzz website has loads of pics for reference.

Three suggestions:

1. Cheapest, probably: grommet drapes-have to decide how they would stack. Right and left need clearance to open the door. If the rod doesn't have a center support, you could draw the panels all to the non opening door side. Or draw the non opening door panel to the edge and the opening door panel to the center to give clearance to open the door.

2. Vertical accordion panel (like cellular shades, but vertical) that you push or pull to open/close. These are pricey.

3. Vertical blinds that stack to the non opening door side and move with a wand (not a pull cord). I think this is the most flexible because you can let still light in by slanting the veins. They work great in our house because we want to deflect the sun, but still have the blind partially open because we like the light and also have great views. But I realize they aren't the most trendy and up to date option. I don't really care because I like the functionality of them.

Check out blinds.com to get ideas.

Good luck.

We have a sliding patio door our dining area that is adjacent to the kitchen. When we bought the house, we purchased Levlor vinyl vertical blinds that had a bit of contour to them that was supposed to look a bit like the folds in curtains. I hated those blinds from the moment we put them up. We kept them for a few years to try and justify the money spent on them. I eventually put up grommet top curtains.

The grommet top curtains made the slider look more dressed up but our door faces south and if the curtains were drawn to keep out the sun, they were in the way for accessing the door and the view to the yard and pool was completely closed off.

When we remodeled our kitchen last year we replaced the slider with a new door that had blinds between the glass. This is a bit of an expensive option but I think it was money well spent. You can have them completely raised up or any where in between and you can tilt them to control the amount of light coming in. You can go in and out the door without having to push a curtain panel aside or worry about it getting caught in the door.

Since I still liked the look of having curtains, I kept my grommet tops too. If it is dark out and we are having a dinner party, I usually pull them across to look a little fancier in the room.

Attached is a shot of my door with the blinds down on one side and the curtain pulled to the middle on the other side. I like having both options.

I hung grommeted curtains like the pic above. Easy to open and close without fuss. I like having the choice to open both sides or just one...based on time of day and sunlight.

We also replaced our French doors with a slider and very happy with it (Marvin). We planned to have a Hunter Douglas Silhoutte shade made to match our other windows but the cost was prohibitive for us (over 1K). So we hung an iron rod that matches our kitchen fixtures and have a gromment style curtain. It doesnt need a center support. We are happy with this much less expensive choice. We have 4 panels I think, and they are pulled back most of the time. I did buy one of those tie back holders for the panels too.

Is privacy an issue? If not, you could just leave it. I have a slider in my kitchen, but we back onto woods, so I have left it plain for years...the view is not obscured and more light gets in.

We used plantation shutters, but it was a splurge. Here's a picture.

Thank you everyone for all the ideas! I'm new to this site but can already see how helpful this site is.

I have sliding panels from Hunter Douglas and they each pull to the side. If you email me I will send pictures. We love these sliding panels. they help keep it warm in winder and when it is super hot keep out the sun. They do not get in the way of our sliding doors and I like how simple and clean they look.

I am having the same dilemma and haven't decided which way to go, but I was looking at the bamboo panels at Pier 1. They have 2 or 3 styles.

I also liked some hunter Douglas options, but I would need to redo my door trim and the sales person wasn't clear about how that should be done, yet it had to be adjusted before the hunter Douglas products could be installed. That lack of direction left me bewildered, so I was trying to find something else that would work.. The bamboo might work for me because I have a rustic look kitchen.

Here is a link that might be useful: Pier 1 bamboo panels