I have a stained mahogany front door, and the upkeep is no more than what there would be for a painted door, and it looks infinitely better. My door is the same color inside and out. Since your door is set back and protected by a porch, you should have the same protection from the elements that I have.

My door faces north, and I live in coastal southern California. How is your door oriented, and what climate zone are you in?

If you want a painted door, you should buy one made of cheaper wood - no need to spend the money on mahogany if you will paint it.

Why would you spend the money for a new mahogany door and paint it? We have a stained mahogany door, facing west. We live in NY, so we get a good deal of climate variability. Maintenance has not been a major issue.

Mine faces east and you could fry an egg on the steel door on a hot Georgie summer morning. Literally.

@Lars and sas, how long ago were they installed? How many times have you had to sand and refinish? When comparing the interior side from ex, what’s the difference after one season, two etc.?

I've only had mine a short time - we installed it January 2016, and we have never had to sand and refinish. I've been told that we can use marine wax, if necessary, if the finish gets dull, but it hasn't. I got information from a woodworker's finishing forum. If you use the correct finish, you should not have a problem. My door never gets any direct sun, however, due to its orientation and the protection from the porch.

If a stained finish doesn't work for you in the long run, you can always paint it later, but it's very difficult to go from painted to stained.

Whatever finish you decide to do finish it asap and finish ALL 6 sides!! Just a note. make certain you double check your rough opening as wood prehung units and steel prehung units generally have different rough openings quite often. Just so you have no surprises...............

Ours has been installed for 3 years now. We have not had to sand or refinish and it still looks pretty much as good as the day it was installed. We had used a Sikkens product (I forget which one) as top coat, and when the contractor who did the work saw our door recently, he said it's still in great shape, but we should perhaps do another coat of Sikkens next year. The door gets exposed to the elements, but we do have a fairly deep overhang-- some snow will blow against it in the winters, but rarely rain, etc., and for the most part it is protected from scorching, direct sun.

I agree with Lars that it is much easier to go from stained to painted if you end up having problems with the stained.

I had a mahogany door for 10 years and never had to do anything with it. It was covered. A lot depends on your sealer. We used marine varnish.

Who on earth would pay a big premium for a great natural wood door and then slap paint on it?????

I can’t paint fiberglass, alder, pine etc., and get that nice heavy feel of a mahogany door can I? The inside stain says great natural wood though

If you want less upkeep I would recommend getting a fiberglass mahogany door rather then wood. I added a few photos so you can see what they look like. Wood front doors require a decent amount of work. Whatever you deiced you need to finish it right away to protect it. Good Luck!

A steel or fiberglass door is a much better choice for paint. Yes, it's just as heavy and high quality. If you buy from a high quality manufacturer and not the $199 door at the local box store.

@Verona, what about this oak grain fiberglass from Steve’s & Sons

http://www.stevesdoors.com/doors/paint-grade-textured-fiberglass-3-panel

It compliments the gable window doesn’t it? I also like that we can hang decoratives in the middle.

Well, I had custom shutters made for the 3 long front windows at my house, and they were made from mahogany as that was what the custom millwork place recommended. And I painted them. I would not like stained shutters on my house, and all my other shutters are painted. But it was purchased as raw wood, not already stained and polyurethaned.

you don't buy solid mahogany wood and paint over it. that's just silly. Why don't you get a solid Douglas Fir or pine if you want to paint? As for staining on the inside, mahogany doesn't need stain. it's already it's own beautiful color. just oil it or put a clear coat on it. If you paint the outside, you will need a UV protectant paint so just leave it natural and get a good UV spar varnish for the outside.Give it 3 coats. After that, once a year do one coat .

I had planned to get a stained mahogany door. However, my door faces due west and I have a mere stoop for shade, i.e., it's protected from the rain but the afternoon sun can be brutal. I was told that I might have to refinish yearly.

So I opted for a painted fir door. After two years it got repainted because my house got repainted. Otherwise, it held up well.

Yeah that door would look nice Chris A, I think it may be a much better choice for you then a wood door!

@sophie Which manufactures do you have in mind for either?

The painted mahogany that you paid extra for might as well be MDF once you slap a coat of paint on it. I don't get that thought process at all. You spend all that money for mahogany and your guests end up staring at $5 worth of latex paint instead of the great wood.

Your door is so well protected by the porch that weather and weathering of the finish is not going to be an issue.

OP - I know it's been a challenge finding a door unit with single sidelight and transom. You've had to change course a couple times. I hope you find a winner soon. Good luck!

It sure has! Thank you. I’ll post pictures when finished

Mahogany is used as it is a great exterior wood as it is used in boat building. Can it be painted? Of course it can but covering such a decorative premium wood is not advised by anyone who likes real wood.

You can paint it and have the look you want and also have the strength and decay resistance of the wood. A shame but its your door and you will still have to repaint every other year anyway so the maintenance will be the same.

I would never paint paint it as it is such a shame to cover that beautiful wood grain. Look into Waterlox it is great exterior coating. ANY exterior paint, coating, clear, etc will require maintenance end of story. DO NOT slap on a HD polyurethane as it will flake and cause all sorts of issues on a front door.

Mahogany will change color in the sun. Staining with another wood color again makes zero sense. If you wanted a chestnut or hickory you should have just had the door built out of that wood. I can never understand people buying one type of wood and then saying they want it stained the color of another but this question is asked daily.

Look into UV dyes. the dyes can tint the overall color of the wood but allow its natural look show through.

I would us the Waterlox and see how you like it. You can always paint over it but if you paint there is no going back. You are trying to make a $1000 door into a cheap $200 door.

With that overhand you should be fine. Plus one of the biggest killers is storm doors that bake the the door as they don't allow air flow to cool the door.

I have a mahogany door (actually double doors) that face west with a fairly shallow inset/overhang. We custom built & moved in 6 years ago. Three years ago our painter charged us $250 to refinish and put Sikkens on it. We'll probably do it again this Spring. I don't think it is an exorbitant cost every 3 years for something prominant and nice-looking on the front of our house.

Wannabath: What? You don't think that fir or pine stained 'walnut' looks just like walnut wood?

That's one of my pet peeves too.

A local coffee roaster headquartered here in Philly, La Colombe, converted a big industrial space into a huge coffee shop, bakery (baguettes, breads, and muffins) and a distillery). Every table top, bench seat, and countertop is solid walnut, 2 inches thick. I have never seen that much walnut in one place; it's stunning (yet still with industrial bones). And the best coffee. And no WiFi--on purpose--they want people to meet and chat, not stare at a screen with earbuds drowning out the real world.

@ Chris A.

It doesn't matter which you paint first (inside or outside of door), just be sure to pull the weather stripping so the door does not touch anything when drying, or if closed before paint is cured (21-30 days). And try to paint in shade, time of day depending on exposure to sun.

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I've never heard of using Sikkens on an exterior door - we do not have the "window/door" product near here, but will look into it.

One could always decide to paint the door a few years down the road, if they didn't like the stain. Just scuff, prime and paint.

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Traditional approach is for exterior staining of a door: minwax (or similar) oil based stain. Allow to dry. Varnish with 2-3 coats of Spar Varnish, sand/tack between coats (2 to look good, 3 to feel good).

Scuff and re-varnish every 3-5 years (or before varnish shows signs of UV damage).

Sikkens makes a door and window product.

Our doors are fir with a medium stain and varnish. The front door faces north and is protected by a porch, and it looks like new after 12 years. My husband gave it a light sanding along the bottom and fresh coat of varnish when we had our house painted last year, but that's it.

The french doors that face south (and have no porch to protect them) were another story. DH had to refinish those after just a couple of years, and after doing that a couple of times he ended up putting up storm doors (that have the pull down screens) to protect them. That has worked well to protect the wood, but doesn't look as nice from the outside.

In any case, I think you'd have the same maintenance issues with paint as you would with varnish.