Pros and Cons of Swinging Doors

Installing interior doors in your home can be an overlooked opportunity to update your space. These common doors are the doors you open and close multiple times a day without thinking too much about it. Do you have a door that is consistently being left open, never closed? Do you have a space inside your home that could use more privacy, a master bathroom, or a closet? These are perfect spaces to update. When thinking about the best door solution, be sure to think about swinging doors. Let’s discuss the pros and cons of swinging doors.

Deciding on doors can be an overwhelming decision. You can break this decision into several categories; the swing of the door, style of doors, finish on the door. What hinge is best for your application? Then decide on the overall design style. Once you have these big decisions completed, pick out the color/finish and then decide on the hardware finish. We will discuss double swinging doors to see if it is the right fit for your home.

What is a Swinging Door?

Swinging doors are simply doors that swing to open and close. These doors normally operate on double action hardware and will provide a perfect solution to your door opening. The swinging doors can be installed into an existing door jamb, allowing for an easy application. 

Pros of a Swinging Door

Perfect Function

The swinging door can be used for almost any door application including, kitchens, closets, pantries, bathrooms, rooms, laundry rooms, and flex spaces. The doors will swing in both directions, self-return to center, and most hardware allows for a hold-open feature. The swing of a door can have a large overall impact of space for a room. 

Ease of Use

The swinging doors will ensure the doors are always returned to the center; there is always a door that is consistently left open. The double action hardware will eliminate this issue! The doors can be made for all door openings from 24” wide to 72” wide. The hardware will swing the door closed using spring or gravity action. Gravity hinges will allow for a hold-open feature in either direction at 90 degrees. The door(s) will not require a door handle to open the doors, a simple touch of a hand, elbow or hip will open the doors.

Great Design Options

Swinging doors can be made of glass, wood, spindles, louvres, or a combination of these materials. The swinging doors can be designed to match your existing doors or to add a whimsical, modern, or rustic flair. The doors have endless design options that allow for a custom build. When picking swinging doors, be sure to pick a solid hardwood that will withstand the action of the hardware. There is a large variety of hardwood available for these doors.

Great Use of Space

Double swinging doors will allow for a space-saving solution for smaller locations. When double swinging doors are installed, the doors will have a smaller in-swing and out-swing than a traditional door with butt hinges. The double swinging doors can still provide all the same features as listed above. These double swinging doors can be installed in a non-traditional door opening with the use of trim boards.

Cons of a Swinging Door

The Swing

Swinging doors will need to swing in both directions and will then return to the center, and the door will swing several times back and forth. If you prefer a gentle swing we recommend gravity hinges, these hinges also allow for a quiet swing. But with double action hardware, there will be some swinging action.

Small gaps

With double action hardware, some gaps are required. These gaps are similar to gaps in a traditional door jamb. When installing double doors, there will be an additional gap in the middle, this allows the doors to swing without hitting one another. Since double doors are installed without a doorstop minimal gaps on the sides are visible. Each double action hardware requires different gapping.

Double swinging doors are available in a wide variety of design styles including modern, contemporary, farmhouse, traditional, western, and classic. These doors can be built in a similar design to your current interior doors or a full glass swinging door. Swinging Café Doors is here to help if you have additional questions on double swinging doors. We are proud to offer over 90 designs of swinging doors and offer custom design options as well.