We have an anderson door with mini blinds inside. It is fine except the blinds don't do up and down, just open and shut. I didn't know there was a choice, thought they all went up and down. Had for 5 years and its fine.

We have had a sliding French door with raise and lower shades between the glass from Pella for 14 years. I cannot imagine having anything else. However, we did have to replace it once for a small fee (the retail store backed it up not Pella) because the bottom panel was rotting. There was a known issue with the exterior cladding failing in the late 90s causing moisture to get into the wood and rot it out. The new one has been installed for 10 years with no issues.

I have never heard of Anderson making any type of door or window with the blinds between the glass. Pella makes a tilt-only (no raise or lower) blinds for their windows and doors, but their website says nothing about blinds.

Timely thread! I just spent the last two months shopping for a replacement patio french door plus a regular door coming into my laundry/mud room entrance. Will share my experiences if it helps.

I did not want interior blinds in my french door (which, even though it is on the back of the house, it is my main entrance). Why? I knew I would never close them! We don't need the privacy that much. I did choose interior grids - they may mot look quite as authentic, but they will sure be easier to clean plus no painting. I priced Lowe's "house brands" - Reliabilt and Benchmark (which I think is made by Thermatru), plus Pella and Anderson. I just could not see paying the price for Pella or Anderson. I ended up with ordering Thermatru which, from my research, is a middle of the road (slightly higher end than Reliabilt, but cheaper than Pella and Anderson. I started shopping/researching through a true building supply/door and window shop for Thermatru, but actually ordered from a local small, town building supply store. I am getting it cheaper than the Lowe's house brands. It is going to be around $800. We will install ourselves (not, our handy-man will with the assistance of DH). I am actually replacing an older, 20 year old Thermatru which was metal and metal typically does not hold up that long. It is rusting out at the bottom.

On to the mud room. I am replacing a pine wood slab door, which has absolutely no insulating value, but I just wanted a plain-jane fiberglass kitchen type door with the window in the top. I went with a cheaper HD house brand, Masonite, and I did order the blinds in this door. It is not hung yet, but sure looks good. The sales staff in Home Depot and Lowes really vouch for the interior blinds. They all tell me they have very few "failures" and they can be replaced if necessary.

When I questioned how well the interior blinds would hold up, one of the sales guys gave this example: "We have a display door set up in the store - every shopper that walks by has to "try them out" so they probably get opened and close approximately 25 times a day and we have not had a failure yet". Makes sense.

Just my 2 cents - I highly recommend you look at Thermatru.

Tuesday

Thanks for the feedback. There is a Therma-tru showroom near us, so I will give them a call and maybe head over there.

I think I read somewhere that the Masonite and the Reliabilit are the same door. Again, so much of what I read online is quite a few years old.

Just wanted to follow up. It turns out our doors are not a standard size, so we have to special order vs. buy off the shelf, so a little extra money. I think we will go with the fiberglass vs. the steel because there is less than $100 price difference.

The Reliabilts are made by Jeld-Wen.