Full width glass doors will certainly give your home a wow-factor. They draw the eye and give you seamless views of the garden. Home extension companies in London should be familiar with this design option, as it’s so popular, particularly with London homeowners. Ground floor extensions offer a fantastic opportunity to incorporate full-width doors into your home, although you don’t necessarily need to extend your property to incorporate this design option. We often incorporate them within our reconfiguration and refurbishment designs too. 

If you are considering a home extension, it’s worth putting some thought into whether you want full-width doors. There are loads of options for that rear wall. Likewise, if you don’t have one flush rear wall, and have a step-back or l-shape (corner) design, there are lots of alternative options that are available to you. Here at Home Tales, all our designs are bespoke. There is no one ‘perfect’ design that suits all properties and homeowners. We work with you to find a design that suits you and your requirements.

To have full-width glass doors, you need to have one flush line on the rear wall of your property (the wall that separates your property and your garden). Full width doors look incredible and really draw your eye when you walk into a room. They show you the entire width of the garden which will make your internal room feel larger and brighter. If you want to encourage that inside-outside feel, this is one way to do just that. If you want to go a step further on merging those indoor and outdoor boundaries, opt for bi-fold doors or doors that can be fully recessed. This means you can quite literally open the entire stretch of your rear wall and have one seamless transition between inside and out. We wrote a fantastic blog that goes into the details of how to get the inside outside look which you can read here. Alternative options are crittal style doors or sliding doors. These tend to have fixed glass panels within the design, which means you cannot open the full width of the glazing.  

We recently completed a project in Wandsworth (SW17) which has full-width bi-fold doors. When open, the doors offer a seamless transition between the living / dining area and garden. The floor levels are maintained between internal and external areas and the bi-fold door running track has been recessed into the ground. 

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We also installed these stunning full width crittal style doors on our ground floor rear extension project in Islington (N4). This property spans an impressive width which made for a truly impressive span of glazing on the rear wall. These doors ensure that no corner of this room goes short of natural light.  

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Does the idea of full width glass doors sound good to be true? Well let’s run through some of disadvantages. There are pros and cons to each option and it’s important to understand both the advantages and disadvantages, so you can make an informed decision. Full width doors look impressive, but they do restrict your design and layout options quite considerably. The first thing to consider if that you cannot have kitchen cabinets along the wall. This does dictate either where you can have your kitchen (further into the room) or it influences the shape your kitchen will be. 

Our client in Merton wanted her kitchen to sit towards the rear of her room, which meant she couldn’t have full-width glass doors. As an alternative, we designed a beautiful window which sits above her above sink. This allows the kitchen to wraparound the room in a wonderful u-shape design. We still incorporated bi-fold doors into the design, but they are smaller and don’t run the width of the room. 

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We designed this fabulous side return extension in Wandsworth. The main objective of the homeowner was to maximise storage space within the room and as a result, they wanted a full run of cabinets along the length of the extended room. This meant that they couldn’t have full-width glass doors, as they needed 600mm of wall space to dedicate to their cabinets. 

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We designed a wonderful rear extension in Croydon that shows off some alternative features. This homeowner wanted to run kitchen cabinets along the length and width of the room, creating an l-shape kitchen. Instead of full width doors, they opted for these crittal style doors. To maximise natural light penetration, we paired these doors with a stunning floor-to-ceiling window and a skylight. The window doesn’t have panels or sash design within, so it offers seamless views of the garden. 

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Here at Home Tales, we show loads of details within our floorplans to help you visualise the space. We show your kitchen outline, seating areas, dining areas – we even put a dog bed in one of our recent floorplans! Knowing how your space will work and interact will help you to make important decisions on your shell and core design. We offer unlimited amendments, so you have as many modifications and as much time as you need to settle on a final design. 

If you would like to discuss your design option in more detail, get in touch with our team today on 02070432378 or email us at hello@hometales.co.uk. You can also book a consultation via our online diary via this link. We look forward to hearing from you.