How To Pick The Best Sliding Door Design For Your Home

by Anugraha Venugopal | February 22, 2024 | 5 mins read

Sliding door design for your home

Here’s all that you need to consider to decide whether your home needs sliding doors and what kind you should get.

Back in the day, doors for a home were made of wood or PVC. Sliding doors gained prominence gradually. Now, more homeowners acknowledge that sliding doors are an elegant way to spruce up the interiors. However, it doesn’t mean that it’s necessary for every home or for every room. Whether or not your home needs a sliding door design and if so, where and what type, depends on many factors. We take a look at these factors in detail so that your choices are simpler.

Sliding Door Design For Space Optimisation

Hinged doors generally take up space when opened whereas a sliding door design optimises available space. As seen here, a compact bathroom can feel slightly more spacious with a sliding glass door design. And in the living room, it’s a great way to have the balcony blend in and make an extended space. This works well for times when more people gather and therefore more room space is required.

Sliding door design ideas for space optimization
Sliding door design for space optimization
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Sliding Glass Door Design For Partition And Privacy 

Sliding doors help in segregating spaces without the need for prominent physical walls or other immobile structures. An added advantage is that they offer privacy when closed or even half open. This works when all you need is some space for yourself yet don’t mind people or activity afar. In the sliding door designs here, you can see how folding glass doors act like sliding doors to separate the balcony and the living room. Thus, the balcony turns into a private me-corner when needed. Similarly, the wooden finish sliding door partially isolates the kitchen from the backyard. The bottom line, consider this sliding door design when there’s a need for privacy or partial isolation in specific sections of your home.

Sliding door design for partition
Sliding door design that creates partition and privacy
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Different Types Of Sliding Door Design 

Sliding doors don’t always have to be the traditional kind where one half overlaps another upon sliding. Choose a sleek and convenient model based on your purpose and your style preference. You can opt for a bi-folding model style as seen here, especially if it’s meant for large spaces. This can even be extended to multi-sliding doors. Then there’s also the option of a cavity pocket sliding door. Take a look at the design below where the pantry unit is concealed in the wall pocket.

Types of Sliding door designs
Different types of sliding door design
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Materials Used For Modern Sliding Door Designs

Glass, wood, aluminium, fiberglass, and vinyl are some of the preferred materials used for sliding door designs. Primarily, you can decide on the material based on the room where it needs to be installed. And then you can also consider the material cost, how eco-friendly you want it to be and of course, the aesthetics of that space. Aluminium sliding doors can be used for the bathroom or pantry while a PVC laminate sliding door design in veneer finish works well for the wardrobe. You can also combine materials like wood and glass or aluminium and fiberglass.

Modern sliding door materials
Materials for modern sliding door designs
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Also Read: Stunning Glass Door Designs For Bedroom

Durability Of Sliding Doors

The durability of sliding doors, especially their locks and handles, will depend on the extent of everyday usage. For example, for a pantry unit, it may be wiser to install shatterproof translucent or transparent glass such that people can view the pantry but have fewer chances of crashing into it when in a hurry. For the bedroom, especially the kids’ rooms, wooden or laminate sliding doors work better as they are sturdy and can handle rough play. Check these sliding door wardrobe designs for more inspiration.

Sliding door designs that have good durability
Sliding door designs that are durable
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Security Of Sliding Doors

While security is one of the purposes of any door, some are meant to provide additional security. For instance, doors on the balcony and patio must protect the home from intruders. Sliding doors with tempered glass that can be shattered, and doors with no locks or easily pickable locks invite danger. It’s necessary to reinforce the hardware of these doors with features like security bars, extra lock system, door sensors, glass break sensors or impact-resistant doors. This involves some extra costs, so you can decide what kind of reinforcement works for your budget and if you need to reconsider the number of sliding doors connecting to the outdoors.

Sliding door design with additional security
Sliding door design with extra security
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Here are some tips to reassure you that sliding doors can be maintained easily:

Maintenance tips for sliding doors: cleaning, lubrication and routine examination

We hope you’ve enjoyed reading our guide on choosing a sliding door design and the maintenance tips. Check out more of our sliding glass door design ideas to see how you can incorporate them into your home. Similarly, you can also explore sliding window glass design ideas to match the doors. And when you’re ready, book an appointment with our design experts.

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Anugraha venugopal is a home interior content writer at a design cafe

Anugraha Venugopal

Born in Kannur and raised in a multicultural community in Chennai, Anugraha prefers her world to be a mix of variety. She enjoys the adrenaline rush in moments of commotion as much as she loves the deep silence for a moment of calm. She's into all things content – writing, editing, strategy & consulting. Her works have been published in anthologies & magazines. She’s also an independent facilitator for children’s training programmes.

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