How about the Jeld-Wen STEEL french doors?

http://www.homedepot.com/Doors-Windows-Patio-Doors/JELD-WEN/h_d1/N-5yc1vZbvpsZ2heZ1z10fqy/R-202483594/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051#.UMhwD46Xrfg

I just had them installed in a new outbuilding and they look just like wood. Somehow vinyl always looks like vinyl.

My Jeld-Wen doors rotted
in 5 years!

We used the steel french doors as suggested by groveraxle on our lake house. They open to the deck and have no overhang and have held up extremely well. They're 7 years old now. However, we don't live in an area as rainy as Portland.

I have wood doors dating to 1823 and they are stiill in great condition. The only problem we've had is with a new door on a small mud room that we added. The bottom has totally rotted. It's a Simpson door. Stay away from them. It's a shame they can't build products to last these days...

Twenty five year old doors??? And another twenty five is......pretty darn close to a lifetime in a house. Get what you love and don't worry so much maybe.

I agree, go for the look you love. We have a fiberglass door in front, and it does look good, same texture and feel as wood, so that could be an option, especially if you don't want to keep the doors natural. Shop around and look at different options of fiberglass to see if you find some that look good to you.

i would look at fiberglass doors they have come a long way. steel is good i use a lot of them the only thing is once you get a seam or a scratch to the base metal you will have to deal with rust. the look is smooth not much of a profile that looks like wood.

I would only go with wooden doors and windows. If you repaint them every 4-5 years with good alkyd paint, they should last at least another 25 years. We live in Holland, where it is raining most of the time and our windows and doors are from 1880, still good and just need repainting now and then. Unfortunately, the single pane windows are not keeping warmth inside, so we hope to install new wood windows soon.

One of the things I love about houzz is the different perspectives. Jan Moyer makes a very good point with the fact that if you got 25 years out of those doors, another 25 would be close to a lifetime in the house. With that in mind, get what you love!

Find a Marvin Window & Doors Dealer and use there Metal Clad Inswing French Doors, Best Product and Warranty available.

I don't think the pro-line is even Pella's "top" grade of windows. So if you got 25 years that's fantastic. I just replaced a bank of Marvin wood French doors after 15 years. Now I like the wood composite doors/windows.

I've shopped around for a new front door and there's nothing out there that really looks like wood, except wood. Go for the wood! One word of caution on the glass. We just had all of our windows replaced in our house and went with the high efficiency windows. They let so little light in our house and when we slide our top window down to open the window, the two window panes at the bottom actually look green -- it's such a distraction from the beautiful outdoors. The net, test the glass to see what kind of effect it will have on your natural lighting.

I installed an outswing door where I previously lived. Since I live in a hurricane area, I knew the harder the wind blew the tighter the door would be. I always recommend Anderson doors and windows. Just stay away from Hurd as the customer no service and quality is not good. Never wood on the outside as it is too much maintenance.

Use PELLA ARCHITECT SERIES CLAD WOOD IN-SWING FRENCH DOOR. Clad aluminum on the outside, wood on the inside. Best of Both worlds. And yes, 25 Years out of any 'new growth wood' product [vs old growth] is as good as it gets. The other potential benefit of using Pella again is that the R.O. will probably be the same as the existing.

Well, I have a little bit of a different product for you to consider. It became available through us just recently.

Vinyl French doors with wood grain foils. Vinyl NEVER rots, corrodes, in addition the foils we use is ultra color fast. Which means the color will NOT fade over time.

It looks great!

You all are so very proficient in your analysis...What would you suggest using near the Gulf of Mexico in Florida? Current metal doors are rusting away and stainless windows are corroding.

Fiberglass for Florida.

Thanks!

Steel doors dent easily. I would go with Fiberglass doors, i tend to be of the mindset of less maintenance, means more fun. Look at various brands, I found that in close inspection of all the details involved you get what you pay for. The higher the price goes on a fiberglass door the better the door. I can't recall the brand I went with. I had factory finished on both sides, pre hung, the frame and sill is also rot free guaranteed.

As Deborah Butler points out .. "Go for a good quality fiberglass door from Pella - you can get them prestained or you can paint them. They have a wood grain pattern on them that is very realistic."

I can attest that they are very nice looking and have had a front door such as this for 10 years. Only issue I've had is with the lower weather strip wearing; not a issue. Overall I am very pleased. These came stained with decorative glass and there is no wearing or fading that I could see so far.

I can't comment on Fiberglass products because they are not used in Germany. What we can provide is the wood grain, or colored vinyl that will easily last 25 years. However, in 25 years the glass will be out of date and you should replace it anyway so you have the best insulation.

When it comes to wood, we are the only company I know of that provides old- growth wood windows fully stained and sealed in any finish. This is important because the manufacturer can properly seal and protect the wood before any hardware is installed. One main cause of dry-rot in windows, is due to the fact that the finisher/painter cannot seal the entire bare surface of the wood, once the unit is assembled. Only the manufacturer can do this properly.

Just some additional cost and time to consider when purchasing a wood product.

I'll second the comment about Jeldwen not lasting, my sister had to replace their Jeldwens twice in a 12 yr. old house. Even though they were still under warranty the 3rd set of windows were not Jeldwen!

Wow! Thanks for all the advice. Our 25 year old Pella doors are aluminum on the outside. They rotted because the aluminum was compromised and water got in behind the panels on the outside. This must have happened over the years, until finally it found its way through the wood (path of least resistance - down) and now has warped our kitchen floors as evidenced in the photo. So the doors are not solid wood, but clad aluminum on the exterior.
I just looked again at the Jeldwen Siteline Ex French In-Swing door. A top of the line, metal clad exterior French wood (interior) door with a 20 year warranty. It is similar to my Pella door.
As to the comment about Pella Architecture Series. We do have those windows and they are beautiful! They are protected by an overhang, so I am not worried about them. But the deck where the doors are is very exposed. Pella is in a class action lawsuit right now and has many unhappy customers. In our area, all the stores closed and now only independent sales people working out of their homes service Pella products. That worries me too.
So, any experience with Jeldwen Siteline Ex doors?

This might be another idea. We had almost 20year old anderson wood sliding door with vinyl outside on our lake cottage in wisconsin. The vinyl got thin and cracked on bottoms and let snow melt seep in and rotted bottom of 4 of 6 doors. We thought the only thing was to replace all 3 sets of doors. My husband tried a repair which worked wonderfully. We took each offending door off and he dug out the rotten wood from the outside with chisels and a hammer till he got to good wood. He used paint sticks as temporary sides and corners that were covered with saran wrap. Then he filled the hole he created with car bond from the auto supply store. He applied in 1-3 parts depending on thickness and let dry between fills. at the end he sanded the top till smooth. The vinyl coating on the outside is really only a vinyl paint that is not thicker than a couple coats of good quality latex. I primed with oil base primed and finished up by applying 2 coats of good quality exterior latex on the whole door to protect. These doors look like new and the cost was almost nothing when compared to the cost of replacement of doors that were otherwise still in fine shape and seal. Hope this helps. Linda

Go somewhere to see a Jeld-Wen door. We don't worry about quality so much, but many people do not like the ODL inserts - me included. It looks cheap next to some other doors. Therma-Tru makes a nice door and I think they still make the standard glass insert instead of ODL.

Here is a picture of our inswing French door. With a picture of our aluminum-clad profile for you to compare. The Tilt/Turn hardware comes with the inswing door/windows, in any finish you may want. If you are looking for top of the line, you should look into our portfolio. All our products are custom made in Germany.

I've had wood in-swing Marvin french doors for 20 years and they still look new! I'm in Seattle.

We used fiberglass doors on one house on coastal California and clad doors on another. Both worked well in the driving rain. If you use wood, make sure to finish the top and bottom of the door. The painters like to skip these areas! It will help the life of the door.