French doors or Bifold, any experiences?

metricspaces

I'm torn between getting French doors or Bifold doors. Any thoughts on people who have either?

Key points about the room:
* This is a new build house I am altering.
* The house is a timber frame, semi-d
* The opening is 2.6m wide
* This is for the back wall of my kitchen, which is the back wall of the house.
* There are no other windows in the kitchen.
* The back wall is north facing and never sees direct sunlight after 9am

Bifold Pros n Cons
* Pros
- Less frame, more glass
- 3 panes of equal size, nice symmetry
- Allows opening the entire 2.6m

* Cons
- Very expensive!
- I read this setup can lead to more problems with air leaks, system breaking etc.
- With the Irish weather, I would rarely use the bifold to open the entire 2.6m...so I am wasting money on it really, for that feature. Also, as the wall is directly north facing, the area directly outside will never be in direct sunlight - so it is not like it would be nice to have it open and sit on patio directly outside

French Pros n Cons
* Pros
- Cheaper
- I can have windows on the sidelets
- I can still have a 1.6 to 1.8m opening (depending on how slim I want to make the sidelets)
- Less moving parts, less to break

* Cons
- Lots more frame compared to bifold
- uPVC looks really bulky, especially with the big hinges which look terrible
- Looks cheap in uPVC

The last two Cons disappear if I go for something other than uPVC, but then I am heading back up near the costs for BiFold


Current thinking

I'm thinking of going for French doors, but using either wood, aluminium or aluclad. At least with this set up I get following benefits:

1. I won't have big huge hinges on the outside like with uPVC (doors will open out into back garden)
2. If I go wood or aluclad, I can change the inside colour at any point with paint
3. I can have windows in my kitchen, on the sidelets

The only real negative is I still have more frame compared to bifold, and it's not as aesthetically pleasing as 3 equally size panels of a bifold.

allycavs

I put in bi folds last year and love them. My gap was only 1.5m though. everyone takes notice. B and Q do a range which isn't expensive though they are special order. you could be waiting for 6-8 weeks. 
Have a look at wickes in UK and if you like any of there bi folds pm me. and ill tell u how to get them delivered.. got mine delivered and installed for under 800. pricey maybe but its what i wanted and to get them made up i was looking at least double the price

oinkely

Had a similar dilemma about three years ago when we were specifying our rear extension. Liked the idea of bifold but in the end went with standard triple glazed frenchies (in uPVC).

Bifold was just too expensive to justify and the benefits over the french doors were not that great. Have no regrets, french doors open and close, let in a heap of light and with the side panes are plenty bright. They also seal up really well and keep out the weather / draughts. Ours are in a north facing wall too. I agree that the hinges from the outside are not the prettiest design, the lack of symmetry annoys me a bit with the double set near the top.

In the summer with both doors open it gives a really nice inside out feel, which i would imagine would be greater with the bifolds.

In hindsight the bifold would also have put the single opening in an awkward position with regards to room layout and furniture, would never have considered that at the time.

MightyMunster

Would you consider a sliding door? We went for that instead of French doors with windows either side which was on the original plan. Also gives wall space for rads either side of the door.
Very happy with the result. Got aluclad door, cost around 1000 per metre