Carriage style doors are generally all built on a base panel made of a 1" to 1 3/8" x 2 1/2" to 3" wood frame. High quality doors (Hahn Woodworking) make the frame out of a decay resistant hardwood (Meranti mahogany, etc.), medium quality doors (Designer Doors) use Douglas Fir, and the lower quality doors (Overhead) use hemlock. Designer doors makes two models A & B in order to better compete with the brands above and below. The basic frame is faced with with 1/4" plywood usually on both sides (Designer only on inside). The plywwod is often luan mahogany but some is "super-ply"(Designer) The best doors prime all sides of all components before assembly (Hahn) some only after assembly (Designer) and some only partially (Overhead). Wood styles and rails and T&G paneling are added to the outer face of this basic door unit. Hahn uses clear Spanish cedar full 1" thick styles & rails butted against 3/4" T&G paneling with biscuit glued joinery and face-grain wood plugs over recessed screws into the framing. They claim 200 screws per door. Each panel is assembled separately. Designer uses clear western red cedar 5/8" thick styles and rails over-laid on top of 9/16" thick T&G paneling with putty over recessed screws . The entire door is built and then cut into separate panels. Overhead uses clear western red cedar 3/4" thick and T&G paneling glued and blind nailed. The total thickness varies from 2 1/2" to 2 7/8". Of course the front edge of this door assembly aligns (in both directions) with the inside corner of the trimmed door opening so the tracks must be set to accommodate this thickness. Polystyrene foam board insulation fills the door panel cavities. Some doors use the extruded kind (Styrofoam) and some use the expanded type (white beadboard). R values range from 5 to 7.7 The more expensive custom doors (Hahn & Designer) will consider a 9'x8' high door to be a standard size. The cheaper doors usually consider 9'x7' high door to be standard. Some provide chain drive openers, others provide belt drive openers. Some use Chamberlain Co. but Overhead has their own brand. Some provide a 3/4 hp motor, others 1/2 hp. Some use overhead torsion springs, others extension springs along the rails. There are too many glass options to describe. Some use a heavier galvanized steel track. Some offer powder coated tracks. Designer has weep holes, the others don't. All of the doors are installed by the manufacturers or their authorized agents. I would guess the approximate cost of a 9'x8' door, installed, would range from $5,000 to $2,000 assuming decorative paneling and glass. These manufacturers use different details at the horizontal panel joints with differing degrees of overlap. I'll post the details if I ever find them. Of course the manufacturers may have changed their designs in the past two years.

Not sure about your level of confidence in wood working - but Fine Home Building had a great article back in March about building Carriage style garage doors at a fraction of the price purchasing a set would be. You would be able to then, of course, make them whatever style you wanted them to be!

On your other thread I mentioned that we used FrenchPorte in Chevy Chase, Maryland for our garage doors. We and many of our neighbors think they really look wonderful. We have a 1960 ranch with a walkout basement, but from the road, it looks like a one story ranch. The french doors create the illusion of a longer house and let light into the garage, but do not allow people to see into the garage. They are more expensive than most other garage doors, but, for us, it was worth the price. The fact that there are no other french doors on the front of your house does not bother me. I don't think too many people have banks of french doors across the front of their houses, but they often have two or three sets as we do in the back of our house. I think it would look fine to use the french doors on your garage. There are also variations on the number of lights/style from which to choose, so you can pick something that complements your home. Please post pictures of whatever you decide to do. I always enjoy the 'after' photos!

Did you end-up moving forward with a carriage style garage door? Curious what you settled on. We are currently looking to replace our garage doors (two 9x7) and have a quote from a local garage door company that recommends Garaga over Clopay although they also sell Clopay. The Garaga Eastman carriage doors with thermopane windows (grid is between panes) = $4900 installed, (includes all new track, etc), and disposal of old. The Garaga doors seem very high quality, but we are also having them quote the Clopay Coachmen Series Design 11 with REC13 windows.