Which exterior door should you choose? What should you look for when choosing a front door?

Are you wondering which exterior door to choose for your home? Read on to find out what to look for when choosing a front door. We’ll walk you through the decision-making process step by step and help you choose the right door for your home.

Find out what factors to consider when choosing a good front door for your home. With our guide, you’ll learn how to choose the right exterior door for a single-family home or apartment and be satisfied with your choice.

Door Leaf Model—Not Just Design, but Also Construction

The first step is choosing the door panel model. It’s also worth paying attention to the door’s construction. Barański offers both solid-panel and paneled exterior doors. The former consist of a single solid panel, while the latter consist of a frame and a filling—known as a panel. Visually, solid-panel doors are uniform, though they may feature grooves or raised decorative elements, such as retro accents. Paneled doors, on the other hand, have a more varied surface and evoke classic, manor-house, or retro styles.

Door Construction and Heat Transfer

It is also worth noting a significant difference in thermal transmittance between the two constructions. Although all of our entry doors perform very well in terms of thermal insulation, panel doors generally achieve better performance when it comes to the heat transfer coefficient.

Finish—Which Plywood Should You Choose?

If you decide on a panel-core door, you’ll face one more choice: the type of finish plywood. On the outside, the doors are covered with a waterproof oak veneer, which is available in three types and two possible patterns. The types are:

• straight-grained oak—the standard option, where the plywood features the natural structure of straight, longitudinal oak panels;
• flader oak – the plywood features distinct, floral patterns of natural growth rings that take on unique shapes;
• knotty oak – even more interesting than flader oak. It is characterized by distinct natural oak knots.

Flader and knotty veneers are very popular with light-colored wood stains, such as natural oak. This highlights the natural character of the wood and the beauty of the veneer.

Possible layouts:

• vertical – standard;
• horizontal – available as an option; particularly recommended for many models due to visual considerations. Models such as the Maverick 601 look fantastic in this orientation.

Color—wood grain or a unique color?

After selecting the door panel model and finish, it’s time to decide on the color. When it comes to the wood grain, all our residential doors feature a waterproof oak finish on the exterior. As standard, this is available in 13 glaze finishes—colors that highlight the wood’s natural grain and beauty.

Opaque paints

You can also opt for an opaque paint. In this case, the wood grain won’t be quite as visible. However, you’ll gain a unique door color. In this case, the selection is extremely wide, as the doors can be finished in a color from the RAL palette, which includes as many as 194 shades in its standard version. Grays, navies, or greens will help you highlight the unique character of your home. Our customers are increasingly opting for this solution.

Glazing

The choice of glazing also has a huge impact on the final appearance of the door panel. You can opt for modern glass, which is available in 10 different versions, or traditional stained glass with customizable options.

Glass Transparency

In terms of transparency, the glass is divided into:

• completely transparent: bronze reflective, graphite reflective, convex bronze reflective;
• partially transparent: sandblasted reflective, Venetian mirror, and discreet (with a transparent section and a decorative opaque section)—we particularly recommend the latter type for modern facades;
• opaque: frosted glass.

Stained-glass panels are recommended for special doors, and that’s exactly how we approach them. We custom-fit stained-glass panels to each customer’s door. If you have a vision for your glazing, we’ll be happy to bring it to life.

What kind of exterior door? A door leaf with side panels

The next step in choosing exterior doors is configuring the design. Currently, doors consisting not only of a single door panel but also of side panels and a transom are becoming increasingly popular. By “expanding” the entryway in this way, you can create stunning designs. We discuss this in more detail in the article: Exterior Doors with Side Panels.

Design Configuration

There are many configuration options: you can choose a door leaf with one side panel, a door leaf with two side panels, or a door leaf with two side panels and a transom. Both the side panels and the transoms can be perfectly matched to the style of the door leaf. The choice really comes down to the size of the door opening and the physical constraints of the installation.

Exterior doors with two side panels

Choosing a door frame for your entry door

Now that you’ve made the most important aesthetic decisions regarding the door panel and construction, it’s time to choose the door frame and accessories, which also influence the final look of the design. The first decision should concern the frame’s rebate style: whether you want a rebated model (with visible hinges, more traditional and recommended for classic and retro styles) or a non-rebated model (with hidden hinges, recommended for modern designs).

Accessories

The next consideration is the choice of accessories: wall trim or decorative bands on the inside or outside. A decorative element that blends beautifully with modern interiors is a door frame finished with discreet glass—that is, the so-called Glass non-rebated door frame. We discuss this solution in more detail in the article: Non-rebated Glass Door Frame—a technological and design innovation from Barański Premium.

Exterior Door Hardware: Lock and Handle

When it comes to hardware, two factors are key:

• What kind of lock do you want to choose?
• Which door handle or latch will best complement the overall design?

Lock for exterior doors

We offer 3-point deadbolt locks, 4-point deadbolt locks, 3-point automatic strip locks, and 4-point automatic strip locks. At Barański Premium, we use only multi-point mortise locks. With these locks, turning the key causes several bolts to extend, “securing” the door along its entire height. This solution significantly enhances the burglary resistance of apartment entry doors and also reduces the risk of the door leaf warping.

Door Handle

Which door handle or pull will best complement the overall design? You can choose from door handles in various styles, with escutcheons in different shapes and colors: stainless steel, titanium, antique gold, or black. We particularly recommend door pulls—also known as handles—for modern interiors. They are available in several standard lengths, colors, and designs.

Functional and Decorative Accessories

The final step in selecting exterior doors is deciding on the accessories. This category includes peepholes, drip caps, kick plates, wooden thresholds, threshold adapters, as well as unique decorative elements, such as sandblasted house numbers on glass or retro appliqués on one or both sides of the door. You’ll find a complete list of accessories, along with prices, in our catalog.

Retro exterior doors with muntins, decorative appliqués, and trim

What kind of entry door should you choose for your home?

To make things easier, we’ve compiled a list of factors to consider when choosing a door. You can think about certain issues even before you visit one of our showrooms, though this isn’t necessary—our specialists will guide you step by step through the process of selecting the right model.

• door leaf model;
• finish (type of plywood) and color (glaze palette or RAL);
• door panel glazing;
• side panels—type (in the door frame, fixed or movable, mimicking the door leaf);
• top transom (type of glass);
• frame rebate (rebated or non-rebated);
• frame accessories (e.g., trim strips, glass finish, i.e., non-rebated Glass frame);
• lock;
• handle or latch model and color;
• accessories (e.g., peephole, wooden threshold, retro trim).

Custom Design

You’ll also need to specify the dimensions of the opening where the door will be installed and the wall thickness. You can find information on standard dimensions for door panels, side panels, transoms, and trim in our catalog and on our website, so if you’d like, you can create a preliminary design on your own. In any case, our installers will, of course, take measurements before you purchase the door and also consider the practical aspects of installation to recommend the most suitable model.

Which exterior doors should you choose from the Barański catalog?

Browse our Barański Premium Exterior Doors catalog or the models available on our website in the exterior doors category. Choose the options you like best and that will complement the style of your home’s facade. For traditional-style homes, we especially recommend the Classic, Classic Plus, and Retro lines, while for modern designs—Modern Inox, Maverick, and Prestige Glass. The Simple, Simple Inox, and Prestige Kamień lines offer options suitable for any facade style. 

If you have any questions, please contact us. And if you’re also looking for interior doors, check out our guide: Which Interior Doors Should You Choose?