We have a four panel 16’ slider off our kitchen/dining room and love it. Both sides open and it feels great all the light. Our previous home had French doors that opened out but i prefe the slider to this

I don't understand the need for a window seat, why not just a chair?

I prefer a swing door. Will you be leaving the baseboard heat along the outside wall?

The window seat will box you in, and limit your seating options. As well as making it uncomfortable for anyone who occupies the banquette. They will have to crawl out underneath to get out of there.

I'm not usually a fan of sliders because they can be unwieldy to open and close in a high traffic area but in this case, I'd choose a slider. It's just like a pocket door can help save floor space, a swing will interfere with your furniture.

You didn't ask but I strongly encourage you to reconsider panes - the clear glass you have now helps the interior space feel bigger and provides a great view of nature. The panes on the side window gives a nod to the age of your home but adding more small squares on a large wall is going to feel like jail.

I also don't think the window seat is good idea.

To the door, I think it comes down to personal preference. I have had both sliders and French (what you're calling traditional swinging), and I by far prefer the French.

Sliding door looks like the correct operator fit here.

What ^^^ said.

If you haven't finalized your decision yet, have you considered an "outswing" patio door?

It can be a game changer!

" have you considered an "outswing" patio door? "

I agree but the only issues with outswing is the screen needs to be on the inside and I hate those personally. I would use a sliding stacking for 3/4 of the opening to be wide open.

Not everything needs screens. When we had our outswing French doors we had no screens.

Ours does not have a screen.

Another factor when deciding is the landing on the exterior. It looks like there may be narrow steps which can be tricky to maneuver.

Thanks all for your points. This is our breakfast area and we are keeping the baseboard heating throughout the house. The window seat will help hide it while also providing shoe/boot storage that my husband wants bc he goes in/out of this door a lot to work in the yard. I want this area to feel finished so we are keeping the window seat.

I agree that either an outswing or sliding door is the right choice. My husband wanted a tiny table here and didn't understand that I envisioned a slightly bigger table so we could actually eat/work in this area. Sometimes we like having our slider open and using the screen on nice days, so a negative of the outswing door is the screen issue.

The brick landing will be redone at some point when we can finally re do our patio area. The landing will be larger as we do not like the small semi circle we have now.

We have an old house and I want the look of panes. Our windows have the look of panes. I know that's not everyone's cup of tea but it's very important to me to try to retain some charm.

We had looked at Marvin's interior wood/exterior fiberglass and were heavily leaning in that direction but their exterior white color is very far away from the true white we would need, which means we would need to carefully prime and paint the exterior to not void the warranty.

We need to just go see some higher end sliding doors so I can hopefully move forward with that choice. I really want a door as I feel it looks more elevated and we have a sight line of this from the LR and DR.

Sliders can have panels.

When we changed a slider to a swing door, we were told it had to be an inward swing to meet code. We had a 2 steps down to patio & having an outward swing door created a fall risk. Didn’t matter the width of steps or how many - the fact that patio wasn’t level to inside of house was driver. I understood this code applied to all exterior doors. How many outward swing entry doors have you ever seen? The door we installed was the same sized opening as the standard slider we had. It was a wood framed door with panes in it like your windows. The door was centered in the middle of the unit & had full height sidelights. The sidelights opened inward & had exterior screens. If memory serves, they were 15” wide each. When opened, the sidelights could fully open & be flush back against the wall. The center door was a full width door & it could also be opened fully & be flush against that side of window unit. We had no screen on the center door. The fact that there were the half door sized width openings on each side of the center door was really great for air flow. The unit looked very similar to French doors so we had the upgraded look from a standard slider that was our goal & the plus was the great functionality of the sidelight openings. I’d seen this door in someone’s home is how I found out this kind of door even existed. There might be larger sizes of doors with these side opening sidelights. For your situation, the inward swinging door issue might be resolved with the door in the middle of the unit - in the middle of the room.

Just an idea, two sizes, and not sure if it would fit the opening:

https://www.homedepot.com/p/ARK-DESIGN-72-in-x-80-in-Right-Swing-OutSwing-Double-Tempered-Glass-Black-Aluminum-Folding-Patio-Door-2-Folding-B15-PAT-DS-BK7280-2RR/339731737?source=shoppingads&locale=en-US&fp=ggl&srsltid=AfmBOop0FpIdS-5dIzuEu4YlTQu9MyIsydolD5QDIAgjpnG3pJM0tOIJh-Y#overlay

I don't know your town, but the building inspector will be the person who determines what you can and can't have. I'm in Orleans via Harwich.

Swinging doors have advantages (less outside air infiltration for one), but in your case I would vote for a high-end sliding door being the best option.