the traditional french doors are with the divided lights. i have them on every exterior door on my house. yes, they are a pain to clean, but they have 'that look'. whatever you do, i would never go for the ones with the blinds on the inside. i know that they are easier to clean, but honestly they scream new and contemporary. thats great if your going for a contemporary look. it does not say traditional to me at all though if thats the look you want. i know alot of homes with them and i thought they were the neatest thing the first time i saw them. they just would not go in my very traditional french style home full of provincial antiques.

if you already have the doors with the grills, and you want to add the ones with solid glass, i would go outside and look to see if they will show up together. what i mean is, if you have the older traditional ones on the front or one side of the house, the new solid glass ones will not be next to the older ones if they are on the back of the house. that way, you won't have two different kinds of french doors showing from the outside. just my opinion. good luck.

I used to have a 15 lite french door. I HATED it. Cleaning it was impossible- too many corners to clean. Now I have all glass and I'm much happier. My house is traditional and it looks fine.

If you want the look of divided lite can you find a manufacturer that has them between the glass? I know it's not as traditional as having the grilles on the inside, but it does help with cleaning a great deal. Then you get the traditional look without the hassles that come with cleaning the individual panes.

Kat :)

Go with the solid glass, no interior blinds.

I have three sets of 6ft French doors across the wall of my living room. It's nearly like a wall of glass. The backyard seems to be an extension of the living room. It's nice to sit in the living room with a beverage and just look out over the backyard with a relatively uninterrupted view.

I also have a glass door with two full length venting sidelights in my bedroom. This door also looks out toward the backyard. I hung drapes from the ceiling to floor across the entire wall and just pull them closed when necessary.

Another consideration: How many doors do you need to work? In my living room, only one set is operable, and the other two sets are fixed. All three sets have handles.

You can see some pictures at my contractor's website (http://www.kitchenandbathbuilders.com/gallery.htm). My home is the "Galleria" project.

Best of luck.

Thanks to you all. Mooring, do you not like the blinds in between the glass? I have two sets right now with 15 lites, One in the kitchen, and one in my bedroom. Just wanted to go with something different, I suppose. I thought blinds would be handy for privacy in the bedroom.

I was set for two sets in the kitchen/dining, but if I take a wall down between the two, I'm thinking of going with three. I want all the doors to operate. Mine are all just one door operating now.
Don't know why, though, I'm sitting in my room now, fighting bugs from leaving mine open too long! (We live in the country and bugs are a huge problem)

I'll take a look at that site!
Thanks

I didn't want the blinds between the panes because IMHO it's just another thing that can break. Plus, what happens if you don't like the color in the future? How do you change them? FWIW, the unit in the bedroom didn't have the option for blinds between the panes. The drapes provide plenty of privacy, and I can change them out when I like.

I had originally planned to have all three sets operable. However, the price of the fixed door sets is lower than the price of the fully operable pairs. One operable set is all I really need for moving furniture, ventilation and the like. Plus, you can't really put much in front of the doors -- either inside or outside -- if you plan to open them. So I decided to go with one set of operable doors.

We get plenty of bugs in the city, too. I need to figure out how to put a screen across that opening for the next time the power goes out for days at a time...

Mooring Girl, I too, was concerned about screens. I have screens on my doors now, with one non-operating door, it just stays on that side. HOWEVER, I did find a rectractable screen for the double opening doors at Lowes. They are pretty cool, you can pull them all the way across the opening or just midway for one door open.

I'm going door shopping again this weekend. Have to have them by Monday. All the Lowes and Home Depots in my area only carry the doors with blinds in them in stock.
I may try some lumber stores.

Oh, and BTW, your kitchen transformation is wonderful! Wish we lived in the same area, I would be calling your guy!

Thanks for your tips!