Sliding Doors – When You Really Need Them?

Sliding doors have undeniable advantages and obvious disadvantages, they can be liked and disliked, but sometimes you simply cannot do without them.

The content of the article:

• Too little space
• Visual space needed
• There is something to hide
• You need an additional area
• A regular door gets in the way

Sliding interior doors: when you can’t do without them

Too Little space

An indisputable plus of the sliding design is that it saves space whereas a traditional door needs it to be opened.

The choice of interior doors is a serious issue when renovating any room. At the showrooms, the eyes are dazzled by the variety of offers and the run-up of prices. We decided to focus on sliding doors in this article.

Classic swing doors require about 3 square feet to open, sliding structures save precious “squares”. But it must be borne in mind that parallel-sliding doors, the slab of which goes along the adjacent wall, require space for sliding – the wall at the doorway must be free and wide enough.

Sliding doors in the room allow you to install furniture closer to the doorway, and, if necessary, just near to the door slab.

The most compact option is door slab that can be removed into a special case, although the installation of such structures is possible only during major repairs.

Visual Space Needed – Sliding Doors Will Help

Such doors are good not only in small sizes. With their help, you can visually “open up” any space, and, as designers say, let air into the room. With classic “undershirts” this effect can be achieved only if the slab is completely made of transparent glass.

You can completely abandon the interior doors for the sake of space, but if there is a need for privacy and sound insulation, it is better to opt for a sliding structure that can be folded or moved to the side, getting rid of the feeling of a “blank wall”.

If the layout involves a large-scale doorway, hiding it behind swing doors is like walled up, while parallel-sliding doors will leave a feeling of spaciousness. Thanks to their design, which correctly distributes the load, the sliding structure can be more massive than the hinged structure. Such a design “on the shoulder” of a doorway of any width.

If you choose a high door from floor to ceiling, the space can be visually extended in length.

There is something to hide

Storeroom, dressing room, laundry room can be ergonomically hidden behind sliding doors.

A built-in shelving unit will be hidden behind the sliding structure, which has an economic, but not decorative function, or a TV area, which seems superfluous in a classic or minimalist interior.

Additional Area Needed

Sliding doors are the best option if you want to highlight the kitchen area on a combined layout. A study or a sleeping place may also hide behind them. The solution will not overload the space visually, but will help to achieve comfortable zoning.

Interior partitions, as a rule, are presented in a modern style, which means that they present certain requirements to the interior. Interior sliding doors have much wider style variability: from minimalistic glass panels to deliberately aged “barn” doors.

Even classic interiors can exchange swing doors for modern sliding doors, if you choose a door leaf from an array with traditional panels.

A regular door gets in the way

This is not only a matter of saving space, but also of cross-room ability. The swing door between the kitchen and the living room can become a permanent obstacle in everyday life – when you are carrying a tray with a tea set or something hot, it is better that nothing gets in the way.

Sliding interior doors are not without drawbacks. They are not as good as their traditional counterparts in terms of thermal insulation, they cannot be called silent, and the carriages and rollers of such doors will sooner or later require replacement. At the same time, sliding doors are more compact and more convenient than swinging classics, and the variability of designs, installation and appearance of the slabs allows them to organically exist on the basis of any interior style. And as we found out, there are situations in which a sliding door is the perfect solution.