Love 'em! We replaced a bank of old windows that overlooked our patio with these doors to bring an updated feel to the space, add new functionality, and bring in even more light.

Love, Love them... have them at my living room... two sets... off to a patio that backs to a lake...

Love them! Maybe could love sliding French doors too!

We have 5 sets in our house: in the dining room, living room, and master bedroom, all of which open onto the back deck; and the front doors, opening onto the front deck; and the basement doors, from the family room, opening to a small patio under the front deck. We also have two sets of outward-opening french doors in each of our outdoor workshops (that I designed to look like small carriage-houses).
Yep - we LOVE French doors (we also used outward-opening French doors both for our living room and the basement family room, too, using 'locked' hinges for security, so we have no issues with making room for door-swing).

I personally love the French Doors&if I had the money&opportunity, I would have them installed in our family room,with steps down to a customized pebble stone patio, where we would put our grill, patio furniture&patio swing.

Absolutely love French Doors!

Love French doors! Had them in another place that I lived. They led to the terrace off the living room. Don't have them here; wish I did.

Jeannie, this one looks like a no brainer, everyone lurves French doors. They are aesthetically pleasing and the chance to double the opening space to your terrace or verandah brings more outside in. Traditionally, french doors opened outwards, not inwards. Somehow this changed over the years and now you'll find them swinging both ways !

I love them, wherever they appear. We had French doors between the living room and the entry hall in our last house. They were the nicest feature of an otherwise very humble home.

I have French doors with this same leaded glass throughout the first floor of my home. It's the reason I bought the house. Priceless!

So much better then sliders! Love French doors

what is classified as a "French" door...I do love them, but see some pictured here that don't look to me like "french"..I think of the classic, multi paned, wood framed panes double doors. some pictured are just one large pane in each of the doors, and so, don't look "french" to me.

I like them, but I think it's like most house things - you can't just stick them everywhere because some places and some lifestyles don't suit them. (I can't imagine having them on my bedroom entrance, for example. Just doesn't feel private enough somehow, even with curtains or frosted glass. No idea why.)

I'm actually trying to convince my parents to look into turning three windows on the front of their house into french doors - the windows aren't large so as door openings onto the porch they wouldn't be very functional, but it would fit with the style of the house and let so much more light into the room. (Due to the roof line it would look weird to widen the window openings, which would really be the ideal - make them a little wider so that the french doors actually functioned properly to open the room to the deck for more inside/outside flow.)

So romantic ! I always feel they draw me in and hold some mystery that I must go beyond the door to see what secret they hold !!!

Love French doors!

Totally love them

Love French doors .. Just took out my sliding doors .. Love the new look

Thereinventedroom, now you know why they're called French doors. Only the French could have infused such intrigue into a set of doors. We have several sets in our 1930s retirement / beach house, which is up for remodeling. They will set the tone for the reno' and will be made to feature both internally between living and sunroom as well as opening out to the verandah. Pic from our Houzz collection below is the style-way we're heading.

I'd never lived with them until I was a first home buyer, and I'm hooked. We have large single pane sliding doors that open to the back yard and they're a real feature, they complement the single pane push out casement windows throughout the rest of the house all which are easy maintenance.
All our visitors comment on them, they really add a casual relaxed elegance to our home.
Although it can be frustrating in summer to not have screens, it totally beats the lifelong chore of cleaning the screens!!!

Love French doors. In my house, it was a nice way to close off the noise from family room. I could sit and enjoy a glass of wine in front of the fireplace in peace and quiet.

Instead of french doors, would pocket doors be a good alternative ?

Years ago I hinged together two sets of three French Doors to create room dividers. We were addressing a large open room which included the foyer, living and dining room. The two French Door dividers could be open or stacked depending on planned room usage. They worked well. A+ for French Doors when my vote is tallied.

@redesignedinteriors - do you happen to have a photo of that? I have a living room and dining room that are quite open to each other which I like normally, but we're considering using the living room as a home theater space also with a projection TV and a ceiling screen, and for that we'll need to close off the living room to control light levels. I really want a solution that's low profile the rest of the time to preserve the openness, and that doesn't prevent people from going between the rooms (for example to get to the kitchen for a drink) when closed. (Unfortunately pocket doors aren't an option due to the layout - there isn't enough wall for the pocket doors relative to the size of the opening.)

If it's interior we like "Sliding French Doors" here at Real Sliding Hardware. Ditch the hinges! It adds intrigue and saves space!

Don't be afraid to impinge on them if you need space for furnishings. You can put things in front of the ones you never use or just on the side that doesn't open. If you never use them, treat them like a floor to ceiling window.

The row of doors below were never used and worked as a great spot for a small table and chairs. With the bookcases on the sides, this became a great reading nook and even a nice place for lunch.

In the bedroom photo below, a dresser sits in a corner angled in front of French doors that are rarely used. \

I just changed my sliding door for French doors .. So love them

We have two sets right off the foyer, one into an office, the other into the dining room. I like having the ability to close them off, yet still peak inside. What would make them even better would be if they were pocket doors, because they do eat up a lot of space when opened. Otherwise, I do like having them.

i really don't at all like putting stuff in front of them. Just looks wrong imo.

@piratefoxy... it was along time ago, but I will search for pictues

@piratefoxy...the area we did had high ceilings and light was not a problem. Perhaps the suggestion of "hinged doors" would work well for you. Post some of your photos, asking for suggestions. There is a lot of talent and experience on this site.

I like both, depending on location and space. We have French doors opening into an office off the foyer. Looks very nice. But in our family room, which opens to a pool area, we have two sets of triple sliding doors which slide open past each other opening the entire wall. Sliding doors also allow slight openings - if you only want the door to be open a few inches you can do that without the door itself being in the way. You can't do that with French doors - they are either open or closed. As has been mentioned over and over again, they do take up a lot of wall space. An alternative is something called a French Slider.

eightpondfarm--
Late to this thread, but had to comment on the chickens picture too. Is that a griffon dog under the bench with your birds? Your dog looks a lot like ours! Only if it were ours, the chickens would not feel so safe! haha Your doors are beautiful, too.

@eightpondfarm... I too love your photo with the chickens. For those of us who love the country, it doesn't get any better than a stone house with free range chickens. And without question, the dog. Would love to see more of your home.

@redesignedinteriors That's my plan once I'm in the house and can get proper measurements of the size of the opening and the amount of available wall and all of those details so we can figure out what would be reasonable and what wouldn't work given the layout. Plus there's still a little bit of debate about projection vs just putting a flat screen on the wall above the fireplace, but I am anti-flat screen in this particular scenario.

(We don't watch TV just to have the TV on, so we'd either have an ugly switched off flat screen sitting there staring at us all the time, or have to put money into concealing it somehow. Meanwhile we do have movie buffs in the family and our group of friends, so the 'home theater' experience of a larger screen would probably be really nice - I can see having movie nights with a projector and a ceiling mounted screen, and then the rest of the time the living room would be nice and comfortable without someone being tempted to turn on the TV just because it's there.)

I love French doors. Why do many say that they aren't as secure as sliders? My French doors feel much more secure than my one slider.

I love French doors! They are so classic looking. I have 2 Andersen Frenchwood gliders In part of my new kitchen and a double hinged Frenchwood door in my adjacent family room for 10 years. There are lots of different options on the market, but having worked for Renewal by Andersen for 10+ years and seeing lots of failed doors made by other companies, I can honestly say we have the best performing door on the market.

Things to think about when deciding on your doors would include traffic flow, size of room and whether you have the room for a door to swing in without being in the way. Also, if you do a lot of grilling outside this door, the gliding option gliding may be easier for you to operating while carrying plates, trays, etc. also, how much ventilation you would like in the room.

I love French Doors. Oh the look! . . .and they are a practical way to minimize sound.

I've always loved the look of French Doors and presently contemplating replacing some Jalousie windows with them but reading the comment about the Anderson sliding French doors, I do have to applaud. I had those in a previous house and they were attractive and much more space-friendly/no "swing zone" to consider. But for the look, French doors are very nice !

Love them, but not always practical, depending on floor space.. If unpractical, nothing is a pleasure. Function first!

Can you do "phantom" screens on out swing French doors?

I love the look, but the door swinging open gets in the way. Making it difficult to arrange furniture. If you live in a area with Mosquitoes, it's really hard to screen them out too.

We love our solid wood French doors that were salvaged from the side of the road. They were a perfect addition as an entry point to our dining room/library.

OLD POST October 2013

French doors; yes if they're put in the right space and done well. I like lots of room, not much need for privacy, not TOO many panes (ugh - cleaning....), and lots of space all around them. Slider french doors are lovely too.

I‘m building my home and would like two sets of french doors, side by side, in my living room leading to the patio. I would like to have very little or no space in between each set, but I’m concerned how that will work. Will the two middle doors hit each other when opened? Will that look awkward? Any advise or recommendation would be much appreciated. Here is the vision.

Do you need to be able to open up all four?

It's cute I don't hate them neither I love them.

Yes opening all four doors would be ideal from time to time!

Very pretty. I love the look. For me, the function is just as important, and I think your concern about the doors hitting each other when opened is valid. Maybe there's an alternative that would look just as great but be more functional. Such as making one of the doors a non-opening dummy door. It would be stationary and not get in the way of the other door but still give you all the glass and maintain the balanced appearance.

For interior it depends on the location - they are a real pain in high traffic areas (my current home has french doors on the entrance to the master bath and I find it very annoying), but they can be nice as a divider between two living spaces that are only opened up for entertaining.

For a patio door, I prefer french to sliding glass for the look, and for the ability to have a wider opening when needed.