Opening the back of the house to the garden usually comes down to two favourites: a full width run of bi-folds, or a neat pair of French doors. Both are lovely, but they suit different rooms, budgets and ways of living. This bifold vs French doors guide compares them honestly to help you choose for your York or North Yorkshire home.
If you want to fold the whole wall away and maximise the opening onto the garden, bi-folds win. If you want a classic look, a simpler design and a friendlier price, French doors are the sensible pick. It largely comes down to how wide an opening you want and what you are happy to spend.
Let us go through it properly.
Bi-folds are made of several panels that concertina and stack to the side, so you can open almost the entire span and effectively remove the wall between room and garden. For summer entertaining and that indoor outdoor feel, nothing quite matches them. Our sliding and bi-fold door range covers the configurations.
French doors are a pair of doors that open outwards or inwards from the middle, giving you a clear opening of roughly the width of those two doors, usually around 1.2 to 1.8 metres. That is plenty for stepping out to the patio and letting in air, but it is not the full width wall of glass a bi-fold offers.
Bi-folds give you a wide run of glass, so they pull in more light across a broad opening, ideal for a large room or a dark, north facing space.
French doors still let in good light through their two glazed panels and often a fixed side panel or two, but over a narrower span. For most standard openings they brighten a room nicely without going to the expense of bi-folds. If you want a matching everyday back door alongside, our uPVC door range has options.
This is where French doors quietly score.
If you open the doors fully only now and then and mostly just pop in and out, French doors are the more practical everyday choice.
Think about where the doors sit when open.
Neither is a problem if you plan for it, but it is worth picturing the swing or the stack before you decide.
This is often the deciding factor. As a rough 2026 guide:
French doors are usually the more affordable option by a fair margin, which is a big reason they remain so popular. Prices vary with size and spec, so get a quote for your exact opening to compare the two properly.
Here is the honest summary:
Both will brighten a room and give you lovely garden access. It really comes down to how wide you want the opening and what suits your budget.
Yes, French doors are usually the more affordable option. As a rough 2026 guide they often cost from around 1,200 to 3,000 pounds fitted, while bi-folds start higher and rise with the width of the opening. Get a quote for your exact space to compare.
Bi-folds give a wider run of glass, so they let in more light across a broad opening, which suits large or dark rooms. French doors brighten a standard opening nicely over a narrower span. It depends on the width you are working with.
Generally yes. You can open just one leaf of a pair of French doors to pop out to the garden. With bi-folds you either fold several panels or fit a traffic door for the same convenience, so French doors are simpler for everyday use.
They can, but for a narrow opening French doors often make more sense and cost less. Bi-folds come into their own on wider spans where the full width opening really pays off. For a standard opening, French doors are frequently the better value choice.
Still weighing it up? Download our latest brochure to see both styles, or request a free quote and we will measure up and price them side by side at your home.