How to Choose a Front Door

Front-door choice should reflect your house style before it reflects your taste. A 1930s bay-fronted semi looks disjointed with a flat contemporary slab; a modern new-build looks fussy with a heritage cottage design. Walk the street — the doors that suit their houses share proportions, glazing pattern and colour weight with the rest of the frontage. Match those cues first, then personalise with hardware and colour.

uPVC panel doors are cheapest but hollow — fine for a rear door, weak as a front. Composite doors are the current mainstream: a solid polymer core with a GRP skin, tough and thermally efficient. Aluminium front doors are the premium option, giving you thin sightlines and large glazed areas but at 1.8–2.5× the price of composite. Solid timber remains the right answer for genuine period properties in conservation areas.

Ignore vague 'high security' marketing. Look for three concrete things: a TS007 3-star cylinder (anti-snap), a PAS 24 tested door set, and dog-bolt reinforced hinges. Any front door quote that doesn't name those three should be treated with caution. Ask for the cylinder to be listed by brand and star rating on your order.

Glazed panels and side-lights transform a hallway but cost you privacy and, poorly specified, security. Obscure glazing (Cotswold, Stippolyte) keeps light without visibility. Laminated inner panes are the standard where a break-in risk exists — the glass holds together when hit. If your door is fully glazed, laminated glass is non-negotiable.

The door is only half the job — a great door on a bad install fails within two winters. Insist on a full survey (not a doorstep quote), a written specification of the cylinder and lock, foam-sealed frame perimeter, and a FENSA or Certass certificate posted to you afterwards. A 10-year insurance-backed guarantee should cover both product and workmanship.