French doors really did originate in France. During the 17th century Renaissance, it became fashionable to have more light and open space in your home, first in France and then in the rest of Europe, and double glass doors started to replace solid wooden doors between rooms.

 

Always symmetrical and with regular proportions, french doors also came to be used for exterior doors and for openings onto small Juliette balconies. The French themselves refer to French doors as ‘porte-fenêtre’ (which translates as window door) and comes from the idea that French doors are actually just oversized versions of opening out casement windows (or French windows as we would call them!) French doors are still very popular today and are an ideal choice if you don’t have a large opening in the wall which lends itself to sliding or bi-fold doors. 

 

They can be used with or without side lights and, although they generally open out, it is perfectly possible to choose open in options depending on your inside and outside space. AluK’s 58BD aluminium door system is perfect for manufacturing French doors and gives all the reassurance homeowners need on security (Secured by Design accredited), durability and performance.  You can make our French doors fit your home perfectly, with lots of different hardware and handle options, a vast range of colour choices (which you can vary from inside to out) and optional extras such as Georgian bars and mid rails. They come in two frame depths as well – 58mm and 70mm to suit traditional and modern build types, and with frame widths of just 111mm on the vertical and 129.5mm across the horizontal. There are also different threshold heights available so you can choose the one that’s right for you.

 

Take a look at the full technical specification for this product on our system suppliers website