We have 10' ceilings and standard doors. Let me see if I can find pics. Our exterior doors are 6'8" as well, but they have transoms so they look taller. Our windows are 6' tall, and start about 12" from the ceiling, so there is a difference in the height of the tops of doors and windows.

Unless you are building on a really tight budget I wouldn't use cost as a factor when choosing between 6'-8" & 8' doors. There just isn't enough difference. We just went through this and I was surprised at how small the difference was - we went with 8.

Think of it this way... You're paying extra already for the 10' ceilings so why not get the doors that match it?

We have 10' ceilings and 8' doors downstairs. Upstairs we have 9' ceilings and 6'8" doors. The 6'8" doors would look short downstairs.

We did the same thing - 10' ceilings have 8' doors and 9' ceilings have 6'8" doors. According to our general contractor this seems to be what 90%+ of his clients choose.

Thanks for the pics CP. We will have 10' ceilings throughout the house, all floors. 8' doors are a must. Anything shorter would just not look right.

Like the others, my upstairs ceilings are 9' and we have 6'8" doors upstairs.

Ten-foot ceiling are wonderful and they emphasize the height and volume in house, making it feel much more spatial. Whey would you make that decision, and not follow through with appropriate eight-foot interior doors and eight-foot or nine-foot heads for all exterior doors and windows? :-)

Cp- is your exterior bedroom door also 8'? It looks shorter in the photo than the other door.

Generous ceilings deserve generous doors or transoms.

Cp- is your exterior bedroom door also 8'? It looks shorter in the photo than the other door.

Yes it will be once the door is framed in. I also will have a "hatband" tying together the headers on all the windows and doors.

First floor has 10 ft ceilings with all doors and windows at 8 ft header height.

Basement and second floor have 9 ft ceilings with all windows and doors at 7 ft header height.

Funny note...we are using the exact same Marvin sliding doors in the first floor and the basement except for a height difference. First floor is 8 ft tall and basement door is 7 ft tall. The 7 ft tall door is more expensive than the 8 ft tall door. Go figure.

we might have saved quite a bit had we stuck with standard 6'8" in the 9' ceiling areas.

We have 8' doors downstairs with 10' ceilings and 6'8" doors upstairs with 9' ceilings.

My apartment with 10' ceilings had 7' doors and 8' pocket doors for larger openings.

The windows were at 9 feet.

When I lived on the floor with 14' ceiling the doors were 8' and the pocket doors and windows were at 11'6".

To some extent, the lower doors Emphasized the ceiling height rather than detracted from it, while the higher windows also emphasized ceiling height.

I think if you raise everything in the same proportion you lose some of the sense of height, so I personally don't care for a formulaic increase in height for everything equally. Most of my opinions are formed from living in and being in houses built in the late Federal and Greek Revival periods when proportion was taken very seriously.

I used to live in an apartment with over 10' ceiling and 6'8" doors. I think it looked OK.

for the people that used the 8’ doors with 10’ ceilings, did you use 8’ on ALL doors? Even bedroom closets and bedroom bathroom Doors?

Our plan calls for a mix of door heights and some of the doors are narrow but 8’ Tall. I have a hard time visualizing such a tall skinny door. Thanks for any feedback!

Yes, 10' ceilings and all doors on this level are 8', even closets. It doesn't look strange at all. It would look stranger to have some doors be shorter IMO.

for the people that used the 8’ doors with 10’ ceilings, did you use 8’ on ALL doors? Even bedroom closets and bedroom bathroom Doors?

Our plan calls for a mix of door heights and some of the doors are narrow but 8’ Tall. I have a hard time visualizing such a tall skinny door. Thanks for any feedback!

Yes all my doors are 8' on the first floor with 10' ceilings. You won't notice the different widths.

cpartist what did you end up doing?

I am in the same dilemma. Main floor is 10 ft, basement is 11 ft (an oops we didnt forsee with the grading in the walk out bsmt).

My husband seems to think (I believe due to price factor that 6'8 would be enough on both levels). I would want 8 ft doors. Did you find any that were reasonably priced?

I think 6'8" doors will look "off" with 10 and 11 ft ceilings. I used that size with 9 ft ceilings once that looked fine but I wouldn't go any higher with the ceiling without also raising the door height either with a taller door or doors with transoms. We are using 6'8" doors with transoms in the section of our new build that has 10 ft ceilings and 6'8" doors in the rest of the house with 9 ft ceilings. Hopefully, that'll provide cohesion throughout.

Thank you. Have to say its driving me nuts that I cant find any images on the web with a 10ft ceiling and 6' 8" doors

its driving me nuts that I cant find any images on the web with a 10ft ceiling and 6' 8" doors

It seems that's an answer in itself.

****

The only closet on the floor with 10 ft. ceilings was in the laundry, so 6'8" looked fine. Using hollow doors for closets balances out the cost of upgrading to 10' ceilings.

Ten foot ceilings: eight foot doors.

8 foot door and an 8 foot window header height are all cost increases that should be considered when doing 10 ft ceilings. Putting a 6’8 door in the space is not a nice feel.

I wound up using 8' doors on the main floor (10' ceilings) and 6'8" doors on the second floor (9' ceilings)

These are all 8' doors.

This first one is with a 9' ceiling because I lowered the ceilings in my downstairs hallways to 9':

My husband's office with 10' ceiling:

Are you are still looking for photos if 10’ ceilings with 6’8” doors? I have used them with transoms in more public areas and without transoms in back bedrooms and for some closets. Other closets I had an upper storage area above clothes. I’ve also seen millwork /trim added above 6’8” doors that was pretty. Let me know and I’ll post.

cpartist we are still in the process of framing. its going so slow due to all the rain we have had. thank you so much for all your pictures. we have ended up going with 8" doors. would there be any way for me to contact you directly to get advice where to get skinny 8" doors and that cover/blind on the 8" full glass door please.

Carla, I made a door height guide for someone a while back, maybe you find it helpful.

Click Here

Good luck

We also decided to do 8’ doors with the 10’ ceilings. The 6’8” looked puny.

Karen, can you still post pictures? I would appreciate it a lot! TIA.

Interior: 7' or 8'. Exterior: 8'. No 6'8".

we ended up with 8 ft doors and 8 ft window height. OR SO I THOUGHT.
everything was framed at 8 ft 3 inch.
so now the widows were put in. the first door was put in. and I'm very confused.
the door had to be framed down [to he true 8 ft not 8 ft 3in) and now I really see the difference in the height between the windows and the doors.
is this normal or a mistake ?

we went with 8 ft doors and windows as header height. OR SO I THOUGHT.
everything was framed at 8 ft 3 in.
so now the windows are in. the first door was put in. had to be framed down to true 8 ft and it looks off. the widows are 3 inches higher then the doors.

is this to be expected?
or is this a mess up by the builder?

Did they raise the door to account for finished flooring?

we dont have finished flooring yet.
do you install the doors before or after you finish floors?
I would like to tile all my floors

The doors should be raised to account for flooring thickness... So if your door is 96" + 5/8 or 3/4" jamb header + flooring thickness w/ underlayment + the reveal between the bottom of the jamb and the door itself +room at the top for leveling if needed you looking at about 8'3 opening height.

If they installed the doors by standing them up on the subfloor, the bottom jamb would have to be cut by tile installers to install underlayment and the tile, depending on the bottom reveal you might end up with nothing and at times the door needs to be cut so I would make sure that everything is accounted for.

Becca Neu and S Hansen. See attached photos. Ceilings are 10’ tall; all doors are 6’8”. Some have transoms, some storage space (which is awesome), others are straight 6’8”. If I were to do it again, I would either add additional trim above the doors without transoms or use 8’ doors in those places. The 6’8” doors look out of place. Whenever I get around to repainting the interior walks and putting crown up where it does not exist today, I will probably either add glass transoms or trim above all remaining doors.

Ran out of space.

Oops, wrong photo. The initial doors over storage were flat as I couldn’t find anything to match. Later changed to resemble doors. And FWIW, I would not put in hollow doors again. Would go with simple one or two panel shaker solid doors. :)

Found this on Houzz

Perfect timing for us - just got off a Zoom call with the designer for the house we're in the process of planning. 9' ceilings on main floor with 10' ceilings in the basement. She brought up the subject of going with taller doors in the basement, something we hadn't even thought about. I was pretty undecided about which way to go until I read all the comments and saw the pictures. Thank you all for such great advice & expertise! We're going with the 8' doors!! :)

Can I ask this-

We're in process of building. Wanted 10' ceilings, the builder said 9' was on budget and that's what we'd contracted for. Then they messed up (lots of mess ups to be frank) and gave us 10' ceilings, which we're glad happened, BUT- It does impact all the other design choices.

We DO have 8' door openings in the Great room (16' Gable ceiling) and entry openings atthe hall to the other rooms (This is a Ranch with only an upstairs bonus room/ bath and 8' ceiling up there) and the downstairs bedrooms/laundry doors are all 6'8 doors. My Husband who is an architect said it'll be fine. That the main space where the 8' openings/doors (like to back yard) are good and that the bedroom doors all are OK at 6'8. But I'm not convinced.

Opinion, is it OK that the bedroom doors will be 6'8"? Or should we be making them adjust given the 10' ceilings are not what we'd contracted for?

ALSO- This change in 1' additional height impacts other design elements. For example- the doorless framless Glass Shower was likely ordered for the 9' contracted ceiling height, and I'm guessing that it was ordered to be up to 7 or 8', which now won't work with 10' ceilings. That, along with tile that they said would go to 8' not to ceiling (whe. The ceiling was to be 9') and the railhead shower rod that'll IMO now need an additional 1' extension. Also the hoodsly range hood we'd ordered. Won't that too need to be ordered with a 1 foot extention to make that longer?

Don't we have a right to make them address all these issues impacted by the mistake they made in building 10' ceilings?

Thank you for any advice and thoughts.

@hlwhittington,
With 10’ ceilings, I would either do 8’ doors or put glass or panel transoms over 6’8” doors. I regret not putting either over my 6’8” doors in guest/kids rooms. See older photos I posted above. To me, the ones I don’t like have 4 ft of wall above the door. I love the glass, as it brings light into interior spaces.

On the shower, I don’t think you need to change the glass, as it was likely chosen based on shower head height which probably isn’t changing. I think 7 or 8’ is fine there and matches what I see in other ideabooks.

I’d take the shower tile and range hood vent to the ceiling.

Looking at the pictures people posted here

6'-8" doors with glass transoms looks SWEEEEEEEET!

I am building a house that called for 9' ceilings throughout except 12' in the great room

Instead, I am doing 10' throughout and was looking for pictures as well

6'-8" doors with glass transoms has the best look and makes the ceilings look taller imo

Are you putting transoms above every single door?

Every door in the house, except the door from the Foyer to the garage

I had one problem in the sunken front entrance, as the door leading to the garage is there, and I don't want a transom to look at the unfinished garage ceiling, LOL

So , I went with a 8' door to the garage and double 8' front entrance doors, so the door heights match in the entrance

The front entrance double doors have a transom and side lights as well, as the ceiling is 11'-6" down there and the foyer is 12' wide by 10' deep

The rest of the house will have 6'-8" doors and I'm having the trim carpenter build simple boxes with fixed glass to put over the doors, then trim them out with crown molding on top

I made sure all the closets are walk in, so they get transoms as well to match

I’m currently building. We love historic houses, and after touring quite a few and looking at numerous pictures in old books with houses… all of those houses have window headers at a different height than the doors. Most of the houses had 10’ ceilings, 6’8” doors (at least it looks like that to me), and 8’ window headers. Extremely rare for me to find one with 8’ doors. The headers were almost all different heights. I tried to study (amateur here) all of Gil Schafer’s books. He likes to do taller cased openings between rooms but if you look at the pictures, his doors are shorter than the cased openings. All this being said, we want the right trim sizes in our house. It’ll be a lot. There would be little wall space between the crown and top of window casing. After talking to a local millwork company I regard very highly, they suggested using 7’ doors with a 10’ ceiling. Our plans called for 8’ interior doors, but we have so many narrow doors, I don’t think the proportions would look right on those being so tall. So we have exterior doors at 6’8” with a transom, total 8’. Cased openings 8’. Window headers 8’. But I’m dropping the interior doors to 7’. From pictures I’ve seen, with all of the crown and casing we are planning to use, it will not look short. 6’8” is too short I believe and I didn’t want to use transoms inside. Let’s hope I made the right decision. But if I didn’t, the house will still feel like home. :)