Yes, IMO. Every door through which people may pass carrying goods and/or through which large pieces of furniture will be moved should be 36" doors.

And then there's the issue of accessibility and wheel chair movement, for which all such doors should be 36" minimum.

Good luck with your project (don't minimize important elements)!

That was the first thing on the list DH and I made for our architect. Every single interior door was changed to 36" width.

The selection of a door width is always a trade off between the clear passage width needed and the awkwardness of opening and closing a door that swings in a large arc.

36" doors are handy for the easy passage of wheelchairs but are more difficult for the handicapped and others to open and close.

Wide openings are required for public spaces where the kinds of wheelchairs that might be used cannot be predicted. For those who are wealthy enough to build a home, a more likely choice would be a motorized wheelchair which is far narrower and more maneuverable.

The wheelchair that each of our parents has used in succession is 26" wide. For a 30" door it must be pushed by someone or manually operated by pushing the wheels instead of the wheel rails. A 32" door is better.

Greater obstacles than doorways are often deep carpet on soft foam pads, loose area rugs, threshold/saddles and the inability to get into a house without assistance or to be able to use a toilet on the ground floor.

If you have the room to make it 36" I would go ahead. But unless all the doorways leading to it are 36" it doesn't necessarily make sense, at least from an accessibility standpoint. But I am not sure if you are concerned with accessibility or esthetics.

It is not hard for someone else to push a wheelchair through a 32", but it can be tight for someone In the chair to maneuver themselves through, elbow and knuckle-wise.

"It is not hard for someone else to push a wheelchair through a 32", but it can be tight for someone In the chair to maneuver themselves through, elbow and knuckle-wise."

I think Pal just hit the nail on the head. My disabled SIL visits often. We have a 36" door into one first floor bedroom. Unfortunately, we didn't plan well since the door into the bathroom from that bedroom is not wide enough for her chair (without being pushed).

I would advise that at least one bedroom and bathroom as well as the living areas be wide enough for a wc to pass without being pushed (36").

My master bedroom has a double door which when open is larger than 36". Too bad I have a water closet that is not accessible to a disabled person. Water closets overall do not seem to be disability friendly. Yet, we all have them.

We have 36" everywhere including our toilet closet. It has been very handy for when DH's grandmother was still alive and using a walker. She was able to go everywhere in the house. Vs at my in-laws they have a smaller door to their main guest bath and she couldn't use that one at all.

We were planning for future accessibility needs and I did 36" throughout our entire first floor. The door openings looked "large" to me at first.

But now, after living with it for awhile, I really like the larger doors.

I did 32" on the second floor....and now those doors look too small to me. It's funny how our perceptions change based on what you are used to seeing. Those bedroom doors on the second floor almost look like smaller closet doors to me now. :)

We just changed our bedroom and bathroom doors to 32" due to my husband having neuropathy and being in a wheel chair at times (walker also) because of balance issues. He should make a complete recovery eventually, but needed the larger doors for now.

The 32" doors are really about 30" by the time you consider the door itself and trim work...taking up some of the space. It's been no problem, but he's got a fairly narrow wheel chair. The one he had at the facility (when he first started to recover) would not have fit through this doorway.

I do commercial design, and everything we do they are 36" and larger. Naturally I went with 36" for all doors in my house. It is much easier moving things in and out of, carrying stuff, etc. Sure, they are larger and cost more (ours were a massive $10 more per door...) but its worth it. Everyone comments on how nice the large doors are to go in and out of.