You'd have to check code where you live, but we have out-swing french doors. We live in the South. I have heard that in areas where it snows a lot, out-swings are not allowed, but I wouldn't have french doors if I had to swing them inside.

On the other hand, couldn't you do the same idea with a slider? That is, have stationary lights on each end so that the doors you are sliding are only 3 feet and manageable for most everyone?

On the other, other hand... modern sliding doors shouldn't be difficult to open and close if you keep the tracks clean. Try some out and see what you think. They're not like those dinosaurs from the 80s!

You can also get a door where only one of the doors swings, and can be center hinge - the other side is just full glass. Still "looks" like a traditional patio door, but more of a traditional door function, plus you still get all the added light.

I think most of us think of French doors a kind of upgrade to sliders, having said that I think a slider might be a better alternative if the former interferes with ingress issues. If you are framing, could you make the opening smaller? so the slider doesn't have to be quite that large?

Thank you all for your quick response.

smileythecat: we definitely want to maximize the 105 inches of RO allowing for as much light as possible.

Also, your choice should match with the price range of your house. Certain price requires french/glass doors, not sliders. I have 4 sets of glass doors with a center hinge like wiscokid mentioned, and they are very functional. They swing in, the one that operates swings all the way against the stationary one which is really nice.

You should be able to get a 2 sidelight, 2 panel solution in a slider. There's no reason that sliders need to look cheap. The deciding factor should be whether or not you have room for (or wish to spend space on) a door swing. Regarding outswing doors, if you get snow these are not the best idea.

I like the door suggested by leelee. Others have mentioned good alternatives. I'm not a fan of sliders.

Thank you everyone for your input. I have decided to go with option #2, which is the classical style that I always wanted but install another door for easy access.

Before I downsized, I had three sliding doors and one was a total of 5' wide -- two doors about 2 1/2 feet. The other two downstairs in the den were 6' in width. Perhaps you don't need a single huge 8' door sliding glass door. Instead, you might get a pair of smaller sliding glass doors and have the panel on both the far left and on the far right fixed and have the two panes adjacent to each other be the ones that slide.

Good decision!
Sliders remind me of '50s -'70s tract homes...

Also, your choice should match with the price range of your house. Certain price requires french/glass doors, not sliders. I have 4 sets of glass doors with a center hinge like wiscokid mentioned, and they are very functional. They swing in, the one that operates swings all the way against the stationary one which is really nice.

HOGWASH! So you're saying that because I put pocket sliders in my house it devalues the price of my high end house? Somehow I don't think so and neither do any of the people in my neighborhood putting in sliders in their high end houses.

And tell that to all the people who put sliders out to their multi million dollar views of the water. (The only thing devaluing their views right now are the red tide! Certainly not their sliders)

CP, I'm not talking about custom window walls and pocket sliders...
I should have been more specific and said the basic sliders as found in production homes.
Early in my career in the '70s -'80s, I was removing sliding glass doors and replacing them with french doors by the dozens, those are what came to mind...

I personally do not like sliding doors (nothing wrong with them, just not my style).

You ask. So here you go. Double French Doors (both doors open) is my preference,

I have a MCM ranch and french doors IMO would look silly on my house I have sliders for any large opening. I find inswing french doors take up way too much space.You could do something like these in your size opening where the doors slide from the center and the 2 sides are fixed

" HOGWASH! So you're saying that because I put pocket sliders in my house it devalues the price of my high end house? Somehow I don't think so and neither do any of the people in my neighborhood putting in sliders in their high end houses.

And tell that to all the people who put sliders out to their multi million dollar views of the water. (The only thing devaluing their views right now are the red tide! Certainly not their sliders)"

Good Lord, did I make you jump with my reply? I seem to stuck an insecure nerve in you often. Relax, this was not a personal attack nor do I claim to be an expert or a know-it-all. Just how it's done in my area, not a big deal. Certainly didn't try to insult you, I'm sure that most regulars here have seen pictures of your "high end home" about 185,000 times...I get the message, anything different is "pretty much wrong". Here in my neck of the woods (yes, the woods, not by the coast) sliders aren't desirable unless they are $$$$$. Different housing market (no MCM), different climate. OP was already leaning against the slider, so I agreed, for MY reasons. I'm sure you are an absolute delight to be around, sorry to cause such an imbalance.

I have to agree with CPArtist. It's all about quality, not type of door. I see more sliding doors in the higher end homes around here (DC/Baltimore) than I do french doors. But, they're not cheap sliders, they're much better built (very solid) and slide with almost no effort at all -- especially compared to the ones in the various apartments I lived in b/f purchasing a home.

BTW LeeLee, those are called "Sunscape doors" in the Baltimore/DC Metro area. We have them as well and love the 9' of windows!

I've torn out a lot of sliders because they became hard to open and close, difficult to latch and lock, and leaked air. Most of time, the problem was because the homeowners didn't keep the track clean and then, when the door began to balk, they yanked it open and shut until it was ruined. If you take reasonable care, I think a good quality slider is a great choice.

I'm a big fan of sliders for their better sealing and space usage. Double doors are awful IMO.

I know you said you have made your decision but I thought I would suggest Anderson frenchwood sliders. They totally mimic the look of french doors, but slide. I think mine were 10' and they were super easy to operate. This was a very high end home, it certainly did not devalue the house. Previously I had french doors and it was a PIA with the furniture layout because of the inswing.

I agree with Twos. I had French doors taken out that leaked last year and replaced with Anderson frenchwood sliders. I swear I could blow on the door and it would slide, they are that smooth working. In addition, I now can put furniture in front of them and still get in and out. Huge improvement over the french doors. These were definitely an upgrade to an upper price for my area house.

Gen H, thanks for sharing your photo. That is exactly what I wanted but our 8 feet width didn't allow for that sliding door combination. The only option was #1 posted in my question.

We replaced our French patio door with a slider last year (here 27 years) and we are sorry we didn't do it much sooner. It is much easier to operate since the french door was so heavy and it was a pain to open and close as compared to the slider which operates beautifully. We didn't replace it with a French styled slider, ours has minimal casing to open-up the view. It gives our room a lift.

We replaced our French doors (both doors were working doors) with the Anderson Frenchwood slider years ago. Love it! It’s in a bay where our kitchen table sits and the poor person on the end had to always scooch out of the way when people/kids wanted to go in/out. And now we have a doggie door in the screen for our 2 pups.

Gen H- I want to do this, can you tell me the dimensions of your doors in the pic please? Thank you!

Thank you so much!