By Now Aluminium
As is the case with any trend, interior and exterior door styles and fashions are always changing. Sometimes, staying trendy can be as simple as just changing the colour of your door, other times, more modern features like smart doors are the new big thing. For the full list of the latest up-to-date fashions for interior and exterior doors, have a read of the below trends of what you’re likely to see more of in 2024.
Extra Large Entrance Doors
One ultra-modern and growing trend is taller and wider entrance doors. These doors suit larger, more contemporary properties, offering a high-end, luxurious first impression.
Typically sized front doors in the UK measure approximately 0.9m wide by 2m high. Historically, exterior entrance doors were kept small to limit the loss of warmth inside properties. Wealthier stately homes had larger exterior doors exhibiting the increased affluence of their owners. With increasingly thermally efficient exterior doors, larger entrance doors are seeing a resurgence, albeit with much more modern and new door designs. These can measure more than 1.5m wide and 3m tall giving a grander and more impactful curb appeal to the property. Double exterior entrance doors are also growing in popularity for the same reason. It is likely we’ll see more of these style of entrance doors in 2024.
New materials
Traditionally, the most popular material for both internal and exterior doors has been wood, offering a great mix of strength, security, thermal efficiency, aesthetic appeal, and cost. Wood remains one of the most popular options, but has lost out in recent years to uPVC and increasingly, aluminium.
More recent trends have seen materials such as aluminium and uPVC used, especially for exterior doors designed for applications such as bi-folding doors and entrance doors. However, for 2024, the fastest growing trending material is likely to be steel, for both interior and exterior doors. A more general, but steep incline in popularity of contemporary industrial design (a minimalist, urban factory inspired trend) is likely to lead to the continued resurgence of steel doors as a rugged, stripped-back and fashionable door trend for 2024.
Crittall-Style Doors
Building on the increased popularity of steel as material for doors in 2024, is the reviving craze for crittall style doors. ‘Crittall doors’ is often used as shorthand for any metal doors with slim profiles and lots of glass when in fact ‘Crittall’ is a brand made out of steel rather than simply a style – only doors made by Crittall can be called as such. Crittall has been around since 1884 and has firmly planted itself as synonymous with the style.
Despite this not being a new door design, Crittall-style doors are especially popular for interior doors, used to divide rooms whilst letting lots of light in and being edgy and minimalist. Similarly designed alternative options – many of which are made from aluminium instead of steel – can be more cost effective and be just as visually effective. Crittall-style doors are likely to strengthen its position as one of the most popular door trends 2024.
New Colours
A simple, yet effective method for achieving a new door design to keep up with current door trends is to paint your door a new colour. Admittedly, this option is only available to those interior doors and exterior doors that are wood, but it’s a relatively quick, cost efficient and impactful way to keep up with door trends.
Colours that are in for exterior door trends 2024 are muted teals and blues, soft pinks and purples and also bold pops of bright colours such as red and yellow if you’re feeling braver! As for interior doors, dark colours like black and shady teals and blues will continue to be popular door trends in 2024, as they were for 2023.
Indoor / Outdoor Living Trend Continues
An undying door trend that will certainly continue into 2024 is indoor / outdoor living. Bi-folding and sliding patio exterior doors continue to be an extremely popular method of bringing the outside in for new, open plan extensions and even for simply replacing existing exterior doors in cases.
Bi-fold and sliding patio exterior doors have been popular for some years now, but their continued and increased use for 2024 stems from the pandemic and increased working from home. As hybrid working – some time spent working in the office and some at home – fast becomes the norm, people are spending more time at home, leading to a greater desire for both indoor and outdoor space. Connecting these spaces by opening up bi-folding doors or sliding patio doors is undoubtedly going to become a top door trend for 2024, as it has already been for some years.
Smart Door Features
A lesser known, but progressively popular door trend for 2024 will be smart features, particularly for exterior doors. Many people now have smart doorbells, and increased desire for other smart features is likely to stem from this for 2024. ‘Smart features’ cover many technology adapted features, but a couple of key examples are outlined below:
Smart keys – it’s a fact of life that everyone, at some point, has lost their keys. Whist undeniably infuriating, it can also be a security risk if someone else finds them. This has led to the rise in Bluetooth trackers such as Tile and Apple Airtags which people attach to their key rings, and can monitor their location if lost. However, this is not new, but what is new is cylinder and key suppliers like Brisant, manufacturing keys with trackers already in them which are compatible with existing software like Apple’s Airtags (see Brisant’s Ultion KeyTag). This means no need for a bulky bunch of keys with an additional tracker, and no obvious tracker that can be easily removed if you do lose your keys. This is also possible for all different types of doors, existing or new, because the only thing that needs changing is the cylinder, so it can be easily retrofitted. This is likely to be a much more common door trend in 2024.
Finger print scanner – if you like the idea of getting rid of keys entirely, or are one for often forgetting them, this is a great option. Many ultra-modern entrance exterior door suppliers now offer this as an optional extra, and whilst it has been around for some time, it’s use is likely to soar in coming years. Look out for this on new door designs in 2024.
Pivot Doors
In tandem with the trend for extra-large entrance doors, is pivoting entrance exterior doors. These doors are hinged from the top and bottom rather than the sides like a normal door and require very wide openings. Stylistically, this has surging popularity and will be a very popular new door design for 2024, but there are some functional implications to consider:
1. Whilst a big opening is required for these doors to work, they actually reduce the overall walkthrough area because they are hinged approximately 250mm in from one side. So if you require a large opening for whatever reason, this is something to bear in mind.
2. They’re not fully weather sealed. Because of the pivot, part of the door opens in, and part of the door opens out. This means, forming a tight weather seal against a rebate all the way around the frame of the door isn’t possible. Whilst they are mostly weather sealed, there will be gaps where air and water can get in. Though if your door isn’t exposed to high winds or rain, this may not be an issue.
It’s likely that despite the two above implications of this door, the design appeal will still lead to them becoming more common in 2024.
Bi-folding Windows
You’ve heard of bi-fold doors, but have you heard of bi-fold windows? Whilst clearly not exactly a door, a bi-fold window operates in much the same way and are becoming increasingly popular for indoor / outdoor living. Often placed in a kitchen which overlooks a patio like in the example below, these are a brilliant sociable option for those who like to host guests, allowing for indoor and outdoor socialising at the same time, or just to open up and keep cool in the summer. They’re also a great option for outdoor kitchens, allowing for warm winter entertaining when closed and cool and breezy summer entertaining.
Pocket Doors
Pocket doors are interior or exterior doors that slide into a reveal to hide the door completely. From a practical point of view, they’re useful for rooms with not a lot of space such as a utility where a hinged door would get in the way. As is the case with most trends, pocket interior doors used to be considered old fashioned, but have seen a recent revival for their retro appeal.
Pocket exterior doors on the other hand, have never really been a thing until recently. An example would be a patio sliding door that slides into the reveal. The main benefit of this is it completely opens up an opening. When choosing between a bi-fold door and sliding patio door, one main reason people choose a bi-fold door over a sliding door is that the walkthrough area is larger because the bi-folds stack well out of the way, unlike a sliding door which always leaves half or a third of the opening closed. However, pocket sliding patio doors are a best of both worlds solution, allowing for a completely clear opening, with maximum glass sizes and a minimalistic feel.
Whilst a very slick option, pocket sliding doors present one major downside which is servicing and maintenance. If an issue presents itself and the cause is somewhere in the pocket, limited access makes solving it a very lengthy and expensive process and is sometimes just not possible. Despite this, as a new door design with high aesthetic appeal, it will no doubt increase in popularity during 2023, albeit on the projects that have large budgets! Pocket interior doors on the other hand will firmly make their way into the top door trends 2024.
If you’d like to contact us with regards to any of the trends discussed here, please contact us at sales@nowaluminium.co.uk.
