Swinging the Other Way - Door Dilemma

15 years ago

I am in the beginning stages of a renovation to my kitchen. I will be adding a deck off the kitchen.

My husband HATES sliding doors. The current design has a hinged french door. It swings into the kitchen and no matter where I place the door, I either lose counter space or when it opens it will be obstructing flow.

Here's my question: Can I have the door swing to the outside or does an exterior door have to swing to the inside?

Or should we just crawl out the window.......

TIA

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Comments (8)

sombreuil_mongrel
15 years ago
They make outswinging french doors. They are a bit higher price because they use different weatherstripping and hardware details. And no, you can't take an inswinging door off the shelf and mount it backwards.
Casey
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mightyanvil
15 years ago
Screen doors are difficult to add to outswing French doors.

Patio doors have one operable panel that hinges at the joint between the two panels so the operable panel swings inward back against the other fixed panel. The screen is usually a slider.
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The closet plan needs to be drawn accurately to be able to see that the door should open inward. Hanging clothes require 24" of depth instead of the approx. 18" shown in the posted diagram. Clothes rods that turn corners create dead storage. The clear space in the middle should be at least 3 ft wide. If the hanging storage on the left side wall (as you enter) was shown as 24", then the storage on the right side would need to be no deeper than 12" to allow a 3 ft open space. But even with that configuration the storage immediately to the left as you enter would need to be removed to allow enough width for comfortable entering and to allow access to the storage in the corner. Using an in-swing door might reduce the shelving length by a foot but IMO that is not enough storage to justify opening the door out into the bathroom where it would be in the way. As for whether the door swings to the right or left, you should avoid putting a door knob in a corner especially when there is an obsticle on the adjacent wall. Which way did it get built? There is really only one good way to swing this door and fortunately the contractor realized it in time to correct the designer's mistake.
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deniseandspike
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What is it about sliding doors that he hates--the look? They have french door sliders that he might like. You could show him a pic and see if it would work.
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mightyanvil
15 years ago
Rolling doors and screens are more awkward to open and close (especially the cheaper ones or the large ones) and provide less than half the overall door width clear for passage. From the exterior they have a dark screen on only one half and one panel is set back from the other giving a less elegant appearance than a true French door, especially if there are multiple sets of doors.
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lsst
15 years ago
We did an out swing french door to our screen porch.
An in swing would have run into our breakfast table.
We had security hinges added so someone can not knock out the pins in the hinges from the outside.
We have had our for 4 years and we are pleased with it.
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anisa
15 years ago
Hi there! Thanks lsst! Where did you get your outswing french door? I'd really like to get one for my condo, but it seems I need to custom special order it. Where did you get your outswing french door? Was it special order? How much was it? By the way, I'm in LA area, California. Where are you? Thanks for all your help!

~aniSa
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lsst
15 years ago
I am in South Carolina.
My builder bought it from Builders First Source or Lowes. I am pretty sure it is a Reliabilt steel entry door.It looks like a single French door.
He just ordered it as an out swing exterior door with security hinges. I am sure it was a special order. I think it was about $100 more than an in swing.
I hope this helps.....
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kitchenredo2
Original Author
15 years ago
My husband says he doesn't like the "plain sliding glass doors" b/c he thinks they look cheap and remind him of apartments. I grew up in a modern home with them and don't have the same bias.

Great idea about showing him a photo of the different types to see if he likes any.

How are the sliding glass doors when it comes to security? When I was growing up (yikes I'm getting old!) we didn't even lock our doors so security wasn't an issue.
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Swinging the Other Way - Door Dilemma

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sombreuil_mongrel

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Swinging the Other Way - Door Dilemma

Comments (8)

sombreuil_mongrel

mightyanvil

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mightyanvil

lsst

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kitchenredo2Original Author

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