Choosing the best patio doors depends on many factors. Sliding, bifold, French and slide and turn doors all provide a different user experience and suit different types of property.
For most homeowners, the choice comes down to four main options.
Sliding doors give you the biggest glass panels and the best views when the doors are closed.
Bifold doors give you the widest clear opening when you want the doors fully open.
French doors remain one of the best choices for smaller openings, regular access and traditional homes.
Slide and turn doors sit somewhere between sliding and folding doors, giving flexible ventilation and a full opening without large stacked panels.
There is no single best patio door for every home. The best product depends on the project, your budget and how you want the doors to function.
This page explains the different patio door types, where each one works best, their advantages and disadvantages, and how to choose the right product for your home.
Quick Answer: What Are The Best Patio Doors?
If you want the shortest answer, this is how we would choose.
| Requirement | Best Patio Door Type |
|---|---|
| Best views | Sliding doors |
| Widest opening | Bifold doors |
| Best for small openings | French doors |
| Most flexible | Slide and turn |
| Best for balconies | Sliding doors |
| Best for regular access | French doors or bifolds with traffic door |
| Best for period homes | French doors or steel look doors |
For most UK homes, aluminium patio doors offer the best balance of slim sightlines, strength, durability, colour choice, security and long-term value.
Best patio door types compared
Every type of patio door has advantages and disadvantages. The best choice depends on your property, budget and how you want the doors to function. Each door type offers its own unique benefits.
Sliding Doors
Sliding doors are best when you want large glass panels, slim sightlines and uninterrupted views.
They work especially well on modern extensions, rear elevations, balconies and larger openings.
Bifold Doors
Bifold doors are best when you want to open up most of the aperture.
They suit kitchens, family rooms, garden rooms and homes where the open-door experience matters more than the closed-door view.
French Doors
French doors are best for smaller openings, regular use, period homes and lower budgets.
They remain simple, reliable and easy to live with.
Tilt and Turn Doors
Tilt and Turn Windows can easily be made up to door sizes and several great brands even offer these with a low threshold. These give you the benefit of a tilt back door for ventilation and the full opening inwards design for access.
Ideal for Juliet Balconies, Terraces and Flat Roofs as well as regular patio doors.
Slide and Turn Doors
Slide and turn doors are best when you want individual moving panels, flexible ventilation and a full opening without the conventional folded stack of bifold doors.
Are sliding doors the best patio doors?
Sliding doors are often the best patio doors when glass, light and views matter most.
A good aluminium sliding door can provide very large panes of glass with slim central sightlines. This gives you a cleaner view through the doors when they are closed, which is how most patio doors are used for most of the year.
Sliding doors also save space. The panels move along a track rather than opening inwards or outwards, making them ideal for patios, balconies and smaller gardens.
The compromise is that sliding doors do not usually give you the full opening unless you choose a pocket design or a more complex multi-track arrangement. One panel normally slides behind another.
Therefore sliding doors are best for:
- Large glass areas
- Modern extensions
- Garden views
- Balconies
- Minimal sightlines
- Open plan living spaces
- Contemporary homes
They are less suitable if you want the entire opening clear every time the doors are open.
Are bifold doors the best patio doors?
Bifold doors are still one of the best patio door choices where you want the room fully opened to the outside.
The main advantage of a bifold door is the way the panels fold and stack to one or both sides. This can leave most of the opening clear, which sliding doors cannot usually do.
Bifold doors also work well in smaller and medium-sized openings because you can include a traffic door. This gives you a normal hinged door for everyday use without opening the whole set.
The compromise is the view when the doors are closed. Bifold doors have more vertical aluminium than sliding doors because each panel needs its own frame.
Bifold doors are best for:
- Full opening extensions
- Mid-terrace houses where it’s the only rear access door
- Kitchen and dining areas
- Homes where the doors are opened often
- Smaller and medium openings
- Projects needing a traffic door
- Indoor and outdoor entertaining spaces
They are less suitable if your main priority is the least visible frame and the largest glass panels. Read our guide to who makes the best bifold doors and products in 2026
Are French Doors Still A Good Choice?
French doors remain one of the most practical patio door types. They are simple, familiar, cost-effective and suitable for many older homes. They also work well where the opening is not wide enough to justify sliding or bifold doors.
French doors can be made in PVCu, timber, aluminium, steel and composite materials. They can also be used with fixed side panels to create a wider glazed screen.
Are Tilt and Turn Patio Doors A Good Choice?
The only drawback to tilt and turn patio doors is that they open in. But to have a door that tilts back for ventilation as well as opening inwards as a proper door is useful.
These door types can be made in Timber, aluminium, uPVC and hybrid materials such as aluminium outside and wood inside.
Tilt and Turn Doors are best for:
- Juliet Balconies
- High Level door, you can clean the glass from inside
- Regular terrace or roof garden access
- Lower budgets
- Simple replacement projects
They are less suitable for very wide openings unless used with fixed side panels, tilt and turn by design comes wider than regular hinged doors.
Are Slide And Turn Doors Worth Considering?
Slide and turn doors are worth considering if you like both sliding and bifold doors but cannot decide between them.
Each panel slides along the track, then turns and stacks at the side. This gives you flexible ventilation, individual panel control and a full opening without the same hinged panel arrangement as a bifold door.
Their only drawback is that they can only stack one way which may not suit all room types. You cannot, like with a bifold have a traffic door opening on one side and all the doors stacking on the opposite side. You move the panels one at a time, which some people like and others do not.
They can work well on balconies, garden rooms, conservatories and some rear extensions. They are also useful where you want to place furniture close to the doors because the panels do not swing out in the same way as conventional hinged doors.
The compromise is cost and operation. There is the choice between very slim and premium brands which are very expensive, or more a handful of aluminium brands with thick sightlines.
Slide and turn doors are best for:
- Flexible ventilation
- Balconies
- Garden rooms
- Full openings
- Smaller patios
- Projects where bifold stacking is not ideal
They are less suitable if you want the simplest possible operation.
Best Patio Doors By Project Type
For a modern extension, sliding doors are usually the best choice if the design is about glass, light and views. Bifold doors are better if you want the extension to open fully onto the garden.
For a traditional home, French doors, timber doors or steel look aluminium doors usually work best. They suit smaller openings and more traditional proportions.
For a small patio or balcony, sliding doors are often the best choice because they do not project outwards. Slide and turn doors can also work well where flexible opening is important.
For a family kitchen, bifold doors or sliding doors both work. Choose bifolds if you want the opening clear in summer. Choose sliding doors if you want better views and larger panes of glass all year.
For regular back door use, French doors or bifolds with a traffic door are usually the most practical option. Some sliding doors can also work well, but they may not always feel as convenient as a hinged door.
For a high-end architectural project, premium sliding doors, minimal sliding systems, timber-aluminium hybrid doors, Skyglaze, Solarlux, Schüco, Cortizo, Reynaers, Panoramah, Vitrocsa, Hyline and similar specialist products are worth considering. Brands such as Origin, Smart Systems, AluK and Exlabesa are widely used in residential projects and provide excellent solutions for many homes. However, they are less commonly specified on high-end architectural glazing projects where specialist systems such as Solarlux, Skyglaze, Alumil, Schüco, Reynaers, Panoramah, Vitrocsa and similar products tend to dominate.
Best Patio Door Materials
Aluminium is the best all-round patio door material for most modern homes. It is strong, slim, durable, low maintenance and available in almost any colour.
uPVC is usually the best budget material. It works well for French doors and standard sliding doors, although the frames are usually thicker than aluminium. We don’t recommend uPVC for bifold doors as they expand and contract a lot in the heat and can have operational issues.
Timber is best where natural material, warmth and traditional detailing matter. It suits period homes, cottages, conservation areas and premium projects.
Steel is best for genuine steel look doors and high-end internal or external glazing. It is slimmer than aluminium in some designs but usually more expensive. Steel bifold doors are extremely rare, but you can get in touch for more information.
Timber-aluminium hybrid doors are best where you want timber inside and aluminium outside. These products are often excellent for energy efficiency and long-term weather resistance. Their downside is they are not the slimmest.
Best Patio Doors For Security
Most modern patio doors offer good security when properly made and installed and the majority are tested to the latest security standards such as PAS 24, Secured by Design Accreditation and Suitable for Part Q of Building Regulations.
Look for multi-point locking, internal glazing beads, strong profiles, good quality key cylinders that are resistant to picking, snapping and drilling. The handles should feel robust and of good quality.
Be aware that seeing a PAS 24 or Secured by Design logo on a manufacturer’s website does not automatically mean the product you are buying meets that specification. You should always ask for the specific PAS 24 or Secured by Design version of the product if security certification is important to you.
Laminated glass can improve security further, especially on doors at the rear of the property or in exposed locations. Laminated glass is also part of the PAS 24 specification mentioned.
The installer matters as much as the product. A badly fitted premium door can perform worse than a correctly fitted mid-range door.
Best Patio Doors For Energy Efficiency
The glass specification has a major effect on energy efficiency and Part L of Building Regulations.
Look for soft-coat low-emissivity glass, warm edge spacer bars and argon gas fill as a minimum. Triple glazing is also available on some products in order to be compliant, although not every patio door needs it.
Timber and timber-aluminium hybrid doors often perform very well thermally. Aluminium doors can also provide excellent U-values when designed with modern thermal breaks and the right glass.
Large sliding doors can achieve good whole-door U-values because glass usually performs better than frame. The less frame and more glass you have, the better the overall result can be, depending on the glass specification.
Never accept centre pane U-Values by an installer. They are obliged to provide the overall product U-Value.
Best Patio Doors For Low Thresholds
Sliding doors, bifold doors and French doors can all be supplied with lower threshold options.
A proper flush threshold usually needs careful design, drainage and installation. It is not just a matter of choosing a low track.
For exposed locations, a fully weathered threshold is usually safer. For sheltered openings, recessed and flush designs can work very well.
If accessibility is important, discuss the threshold detail before ordering. The product, floor levels, drainage, outside paving and installation method all matter.
Patio Doors We Would Be Careful With
- Be careful with very cheap aluminium doors where the system, manufacturer or installer is unclear.
- Don’t choose sliding doors on sightlines alone if you live in an exposed location.
- Be cautious of oversized bifold or sliding doors sold close to their practical limits.
- Ask about servicing, glass replacement and maintenance requirements before choosing a sliding door.
- If considering a bonded sliding door, make sure you understand how glass replacement works.
- Flush thresholds require careful drainage design and coordination between installer and builder.
- Be sceptical of any company claiming its product is the best solution for every project.
The best patio door is rarely just the door. It is the right product, for your particular project, and its location. Specification must be correct.
Which Patio Door Would We Choose?
After helping homeowners compare patio doors since 2010, we’ve learned there is no universal best patio door. The right choice depends on the property, the opening size, the budget and how you want the doors to function.
If we were spending our own money, these are the products we would typically choose:
- For a contemporary extension: aluminium sliding doors
- For a mid-terrace house where the patio doors are also the main rear entrance: bifold doors with a traffic door
- For a cottage or period property: timber or timber-look French doors
- For a balcony apartment: sliding doors
- For a small rear opening: French doors
- For a luxury architectural project: premium minimal sliding doors
- For maximum glass and uninterrupted views: sliding doors
- For opening up an entire wall: bifold doors
There is no perfect patio door. Every design involves some compromise between views, opening size, convenience, cost and aesthetics.
However, for most homeowners, an aluminium sliding door offers the best balance of appearance, performance, security, durability and long-term value.
It is worth noting that our answer today is different to the answer we would have given ten years ago. Improvements in sliding door engineering, larger glass sizes and slimmer sightlines mean sliding doors now suit more homes than ever before. Whilst bifold doors remain an excellent product, many homeowners today prioritise glass and views over achieving a completely open wall.
Need Help Choosing The Best Patio Doors?
Door and Window Experts has been helping homeowners compare patio doors, sliding doors, bifold doors and front doors since 2010. We do not sell patio doors. We help you understand the products, compare the options and find suitable suppliers.
If you are unsure whether sliding doors, bifold doors, French doors or slide and turn doors are right for your home, get in touch and we will help you narrow down the choices.
