I'm not really clear on whether you have to replace your front door or not. Can you continue to use your current door or is it necessary to put in a new one? If it's just the storm door your husband wants, can you find a skilled carpenter to build you one to go one your current door? Then stain it to match, so it disappears. Alternatively, tell your husband you don't want to compromise with "good enough" and will keeping searching until you find "perfect." He may come to love your current door before you track down something you like better. If you must replace your door, there is a lot of choice out there. We used "Rogue Valley" door and it's beautiful and well-made. Although we could not see that exact door, we could see samples of that manufacturer and others at a local millwork supplier. I suggest contacting the manufacturers to find out who within 100 miles or so has samples of their doors. It will be worth your time to make sure you have chosen the right door. Is your NE Nebraska or New England?

Hi Telly, We did this research in '03 and it took 5 months to research various brands. You may want to also look into Loewen, a brand that we just saw recently at a friend's new house. They seem to do really good work. We had to decide on quality as well as looks. At the time, vinyl, fiberglass and other composite looked weird even when colored. The neatest look was Aluminum so we settled for Aluminum cladding and wood interior. Things may have changes since then. We compared extruded Aluminum versus rolled aluminum, how do they bake on the color and what type of protection do they use, how the cladding is mated to the wood interior, whether the wood is solid wood or veneer, locking mechanism, ability to adjust height and extension of operating units, quality of interior wood work, glass and wood options. Finally, we needed to know if they could do what we needed for our somwhat odd-ball opening. Pella offers Duracast and something called Impervia, some sort of composite material supposedly stronger than Aluminum. You have to go see in person how they look and whether they meet your requirements. Andersen also offers some sort of special glass coating and some kind of exterior cladding other than Aluminum. You need to see them and decide whether they work for you. If you decide to stain the wood, it will be important to look carefully at the wood work to see if the lines are appealing. Different companies have slightly different way of finishing the interior. If you intend to paint them, then that may not be so important. If you see a window showing poorly in one store, find the same window in another store. We saw an Andersen in one shop being shown with visible gaps in the woodwork and even frayed ends. We went to another shop and the demo window showed real well. The local Home Depot and Lowe's were just not good at all in showing Pella windows and doors. We had to go to a shop in another town. Nothing beats close-up touching and looking at the windows and doors in a good shop. We settled on Marvin becaus we prefer the Marvin woodwork quality but that is just our taste. Good luck.

No, it doesn't, as long as you maintain the paint. I have to agree with you, painting a Sapele door would be a crime. :-]

I realize this is an old post, but thought my recent experience relevant to those who might come across your question/discussion in the future. The following semi-custom wood exterior door is from Buffelen Door Co., installed in later 2014. It is professionally finished, and in a well protected situation. My customer notified me this summer (after less than 3 years) that the center panel had a crack clear through it, and running from top to bottom of the center panel. Though beyond warranty, it seemed clear that this is a manufacturer defect because the crack occurred at the seam of two boards glued together to make the wide panel. Upon notifying Buffelen of the said defect in craftsmanship, they declined to stand behind their product. Needless to say, we will NOT RECOMMEND Buffelen to our customers or Houzz members. My belief: The wood likely had too much moisture content; so was not kiln dried to a low enough moisture content before using for wood work.