Contemporary steel look French doors in Cambridgeshire

This family home in Cambridgeshire boasts no fewer than four sets of our industrial steel look aluminium doors. On the garden elevation of the new single storey extension, two large openings sit side by side, each pairing a set of French doors with fixed sidelights and a row of fanlights above, so that almost the full width of the extension opens to the garden.

Combined with a generous rooflight over the kitchen diner, the room is lit from two directions at once: bright throughout the day, and open to the trees and lawn whenever the doors are thrown back.

Recommended by their architect, who chose the same doors for his own home

The homeowners came to us on the recommendation of their architect, himself a Burgess Group customer, who had installed the same heritage style steel look French doors in his own home in Suffolk. That is close to the strongest endorsement a product can carry. A professional who specifies glazing for a living chose these doors for the house he lives in.

The family had been considering a traditional alternative, but our steel look doors offered the same architectural character with noticeably better thermal efficiency. Across four sets of doors, where heat loss would otherwise accumulate, that difference matters, and it made the choice a straightforward one. They have been delighted with the result.

As well as French doors, with or without light maximising side panels and fan lights, the range also includes single doors, internal doors, bi fold doors and casement windows.

Perfect for bathrooms and street level bedrooms, glazing choices include a variety of textured and obscured glass, to provide privacy without reducing light.

“We’ve achieved exactly what we envisaged. We can see the trees, the light and the children. Outside is a continuation of inside, and we love the character of the doors.”

Fanlights and sidelights that fill the opening with glass, not frame

Part of what makes these openings work is what surrounds the doors. Rather than setting a pair of French doors into a solid wall, each opening carries slim fixed sidelights and a run of fanlights above, framed in the same steel look profile with the gridded, Georgian style glazing bars that give the range its character.

This allows a large structural opening to be filled almost entirely with glazing while keeping crisp, ordered lines throughout. Set against the pale brickwork of the extension, the black frames read as a deliberate architectural feature rather than simply a way in and out of the house.

More than French doors: a complete steel look range

The steel look range extends well beyond the French doors used here. French doors can be specified with or without the light maximising sidelights and fanlights seen on this project, and the family of products also includes single doors, internal doors and screens, bi fold doors and steel look casement windows.

For bathrooms and street level bedrooms, a choice of textured and obscured glazing provides privacy without sacrificing the light that makes these doors so appealing in the first place.

See steel look doors in our showrooms

Explore our steel look aluminium doors and windows and their slim, art deco lines for yourself. You will find French doors on display at our Fornham St Martin showroom near Bury St Edmunds, and bi fold doors at our Woodbridge showroom within Notcutts Garden Centre.