Choosing the best aluminium front doors for the home need not be complicated and there are numerous products on the market at various price points. Schuco, Pirnar, Gerda, Spitfire and Hormann are just four of the best-known aluminium front doors, whilst independent manufacturers such as Dutemann and Glasswin provide additional great door options.
Any of the many aluminium door brands will provide good security, energy-efficiency and weather protection. You’ll also get a very attractive new front door in a choice of traditional or modern styles. Here are some of the best aluminium front doors.
The advantages of aluminium entrance doors explained.
Reliability, slim sightlines, better aeshthetics and stength. Four standout features of the best aluminium front doors you won’t get with composite doors or PVCu doors. Timber doors of course fall into an altogether different category at the upper end of the price range alonside steel reinforced front door.
Other pages In this section
Aluminium entrance doors and front doors- Buying a new entrance door-the choices
- 7 reasons to use aluminium doors
- Contemporary Doors in Aluminium
- Who makes the best aluminium front doors
For many an aluminium front door provides the most affordable option as well as the choice of more prestigious entrance doors.
Often the front door is the last item in a substantial home improvement project. Composite doors provide a cheaper and high-quality alternative to a front door. However, you only need to look at a door in recently built homes by developers to see how badly the composite material ages with cheap doors.
Therefore, the best aluminium entrance doors provide all the advantages of a composite door with even more features and benefits. This is why developers of higher-end new homes choose aluminium instead. Above all, they look better.
Invest in an aluminium front door and you’ll get long service life, great reliability and security where it matters. You’ll also get a substantial choice of designs, whether fully or partially glazed, a traditional or contemporary door panel design. The best aluminium front doors can also use other materials such as aluminium door frames and steel to the door panel faces, hybrid door frames with aluminium outside and wood inside, or other materials making up the design or technical performance.
Best high-end front doors
The best aluminium front doors usually come at a much higher price of over £5000. However, the materials, build quality, luxury door handles, security and technology justify the price premium. Most of the premium front doors have a seamless design and flush faces without the ‘step’ detail of those having a glaze in panel. Here are some of the best.
Pirnar Aluminium Front Doors
Pirnar front doors deliver on sheer luxury, with genuine innovation, flawless build quality. The company has been in business over fifty years and is widely regarded as a luxury front door brand. You’ll find over 80 aluminium models to choose from, including those using a combination of aluminium and fine woods.
The handle options on Pirnar front doors are truly special with outstanding design, tactile surface finishes and made from the finest metals. Every component of a Pirnar aluminium front door is meticulously chosen with every door an example of real craftsmanship.
Schüco AD UP Front doors
Not only are you getting one of the best aluminium brands, but also the reassurance of the Schüco engineering, technology and style. Schüco AD UP promises a technically superior aluminium front door which is also incredibly attractive, thanks to it’s seamless look, and how the frame, sash and decorative panels work harmoniously. Side and top panels are also easy to create, and they also work as entrance doors to apartment buildings too.
The entire system features the best in German engineering with brilliant attention to detail. The concealed hinges are a design marvel as are the locking systems, door handles and the quality of the aluminium infill panels. Even better the impressive door sizes available, up to 1.4m wide and 3m high. Standard or smart locking, lots of low threshold and accessibility options and some of the lowest U-Values come as standard.
Hormann ThermoCarbon
One of the best aluminium front doors thanks to a combination of high quality aluminium and carbon glass fibre hybrid materials. Hormann ThermoCarbon has a fully flush design, nine locking points and looks superb in any property.
These doors are weighty, feel dependable and come with some of the best security features. The retractable bottom seal, giving a clear floor finish with weather protection, is a particularly nice touch. You can choose manual or smart locking options and even automatic door closing.
Smart Systems Designer Doors
Smart Systems Designer doors come highly recommended for their flush appearance of more expensive doors with the added benefit of some of the best traditional designs. These doors appeal for their impressive fit and finish, good design and quality colour finishes.
Not every project requires a contemporary design, and Smart Systems Designer front doors deliver excellent prices with high specifications. High security and ten locking points, triple glazing, low U-Values and current Building Regulations compliance.
Best premium-quality front doors
Gerda Front Doors
Made in Poland and exclusively distributed by Pioneer Trading Company in Essex, Gerda front doors use a combination of steel and aluminium and come in three excellent ranges, Optima, Thermo Premium and Thermo Prime. The benefit of these doors is their ultra-premium appearance at a more realistic price with excellent panel designs, and high quality hardware.
The fit and finish of these doors is first class as is the technical performance and security credentials. The use of steel to the panels gives these doors a seamless look, that’s better than the glaze-in method of other doors. New to the market, and recommended for their looks and quality.
Sitting in the middle of the best aluminium front doors offering are products at a more mid-range price of around £2800-£4000. These doors are either high-end doors using premium aluminium systems to the door frame and sash, with a choice of high quality decorative panels.
Glasswin Front Doors
Made in Europe and using premium Schüco and Reynaers aluminium systems, Glasswin front doors offer many additional features and benefits compared brands such as Spitfire and Hermann. Glasswin offers four expertly-crafted and distinctive aluminium front doors, starting with the Silver Series that provides a premium-quality front door at a very attractive price. The Gold Series takes advantage of the renowned Reynaers Aluminium range of profiles, whilst Platinum and Diamond use the top-of-the-line Schuco profiles, creating high-specification front doors.
Gold, Platinum and Diamond Collection doors by Glasswin come as standard with quadruple glazing and genuine Reynaers or Schuco hardware. Overall Glasswin Doors provide access premium and high-end front doors. Also available are hybrid and economy versions.
Hormann ThermoSafe Hybrid
Hormann front door are some of the best selling in Europe and the ThermoSafe Hybrid delivers excellent thermal insulation and security. These doors are solid, well-built and come from a well-known brand.
The ThermoSafe hybrid door range comes in around 70 contemporary styles and with a thicker overall construction, delivering the right look and style, to both new build modern houses and the traditional homes such as bay fronted designs.
Express Bifolds XP77
Express Bifolds have some of the best showrooms around the country where you can view their front doors. The XP77 is actually the Reynaers CS77 system with a suitable decorative panel. That said, the look and fees of the XP77 is outstanding and delivers a luxury looking door at a more realistic price.
best glaze-in front doors
These are by no-means low-quality front doors, but all use an otherwise standard aluminium door system and complete the front door look by using a “glaze in” decorative panel. You can expect to pay in the region of £2000-£2800 for these doors, any higher, and you’re better off considering the mid-range doors that promise better styling, significantly better design and more features.
Spitfire S-200
The Spitfire S-200 is well made and designed with a great range of door designs, colour, glass and handle options. This door works very well for general front door replacements and has the option of wood-effect and textured colour finishes.
The system is made in Europe with an insulated door and frame system and comes at good maximum dimensions of up auto 1150mm wide and 2250mm high. Five-point locking, triple glazing and manual or automatic door locking are also good options available on these doors.
Origin front doors
It’s only when you study an Origin front door up close you see how this isn’t a dedicated front door system but uses the same profiles as their best-selling folding sliding doors. It shows in the door seals being a little crude compared to other doors at the edges. However, it rightly deserves its place as one of the best doors using a door and frame system with a glazed-in aluminium panel. It’s widely available nationwide and comes from a company with an excellent manufacturing pedigree. The range today only comprises around ten styles and worth considering.
Origin’s choice of profiles compromises this door somewhat in that it’s not designed from the outset for glazed side and top panels. Although these are available, they don’t have attention to detail of proper front door systems. The advantages of Origin front doors are their fast lead times, woodgrain colour options, personalisation options and quality materials throughout.
How aluminium entrance doors differ from composite doors.
Aluminium entrance doors we consider superior to plastic PVCu doors as well as composite doors. While composite doors such as the Solidor or the Endurance are solid and secure, aluminium front doors provide advantages. These benefits are enhanced when there are other aluminium products in the home as well, such as bifolding doors, sliding doors and aluminium windows.
- Higher thermal insulation and excellent acoustics, depending on the type
- A greater variety of locking options
- More flexible sizes than PVCu or composite front doors
- Very stable front door sets
- A better colour match to other products such as windows or doors
To choose the right aluminium front door for your home, it is worth looking at their construction and design as well as their sources.
Understanding aluminium front door construction
Choosing the best aluminium front doors means also understanding their construction and overall design. Much of this centres around the decorative panel. Whether they’re called decorative, infill, solid panels or door panels, these are the part of the door giving its overall look, modern or traditional.
It’s helpful here to understand the makeup of cheaper front doors against the more expensive models and the method of fixing the door panel. There are three common types of door panel design.
The aluminium door with an inset decorative panel.
The aluminium door with an inset decorative panel is old technology although the simplest and still a good way to make a front door. There’s nothing at all wrong with these doors. However, they don’t offer the more consistent lines and better overall fit and finish of the best aluminium front doors.
In simple terms, in place of glass goes the decorative panel. And that’s it. In other words, it’s exactly the same type of glazed door you’d have as a side, porch or back door but without the glass. These are the simplest ways of making aluminium entrance doors.
Whilst they’re simpler, quality and fit and finish does vary. Dutemann makes some of the best aluminium entrance doors using this design with their Haus model. So does Sunflex. Hallmark, Hörmann and Spitfire do too and Kloeber is another brand. Origin makes great front doors, but be aware this is still essentially their bifolding doors sash profile and it’s visible when you study the seals at the door corners where they meet.
An integrated aluminium panel
Here you get an aluminium front door manufactured with the panel as an integral part of the structure whilst still having a ‘glaze-in’ construction.
The visible difference here is the doors are seamless with the door sash either on the outside, the inside or both sides. You don’t get the step from the inside of the door leaf to the panel line. Glasswin, Spitfire, Hörmann and Internorm are some brands with this design.
The flush aluminium entrance doors panel
Then we come to the more bespoke best aluminium front doors using the flush design with their panels. Again it’s the seamless look without the glaze in effect of other doors. They’re more expensive but they’re also made quite a bit differently.
These doors most come in contemporary designs. Internorm, Smart Systems, Spitfire S500, Pirnar and other upper-level front door brands typically use this arrangement.
The solid panels explained
The solid panel plays an essential part in all front doors and there are several types available. Crucially, the panels also contribute significantly to the overall door U-Values. However, these panels must also provide the required feel. Too light and the front door feels flimsy.
The cheapest door panels comes with just basic insulation. Better versions have thicker insulation as well as some timber or steel reinforcement. As well as this, the thickness of the exterior and interior skins you see, vary. Some panels are only 1.5mm thick, others go up to a better 3mm.
As well as the thickness of the aluminium, the overall panel thickness is important. The basic doors have a thickness as much as the glazing allows – 24mm or 28mm with cheaper doors. The best aluminium front doors have substantially thicker skins at 44mm, 50m, 77mm or even up to 90mm with the more premium products.
The thicker the panel above 28mm, the better the door. Thicker panels also contribute to the low U-Values and excellent thermal insulation.
Many door manufacturers don’t make the panels for their doors. Instead these are sourced from businesses specialising in making door panels. Some are sourced in Europe from substantial panel companies. Therefore, it’s quite likely the door has it’s surround frame and door leaf profiles from one supplier, the decorative panel and glass from another.
Choosing contemporary or traditional front doors.
Every quality door panel manufacturer and supplier will be able to demonstrate a range of both contemporary door sets as well as the more traditional designs. As a result, whatever style you want for your home won’t differ very much in construction.
To modern or traditional doors comes a choice of glass options, locking systems, door accessories and a selection of door handles.
Door designs vary around the country and many homeowners like to replicate the original front door style in composite or other materials. Glasswin Front Doors is one company we know of offering aluminium front doors in some of the best traditional styles. Even better with these doors, the decorative mouldings are full aluminium.
Understanding door sizes and designs.
One of the main reasons to choose an aluminium entrance door over the composite door is more flexibility in panel sizes and overall door sizes. For example, composite doors can be unsuitable for cottages and older houses with narrow doorways owing to panel size limitations. While aluminium entrance doors are can also be restricted by size, there is usually more flexibility for smaller doors. For large door sets, aluminium has the biggest advantage. Here is how door sizes compare for and double doors. Also included are some composite and timber doors to provide a comparison.
| Brand | Single Door Maximum Size | Double Door Maximum Size |
|---|---|---|
| Dutemann Haus Entrance Door | 1200 x 2390mm | 2390x2390mm |
| Glasswin Front Doors | 1250×2250 | n/a |
| Solidor Composite Door | 1013x2163mm | 1927x2163mm |
| Rocal Endurance Composite Door | 1004x2050mm | 1996x2050mm |
| Smart System Designer Door | 1200x2400mm | 2200x2500mm |
| Origin Residential Front Door | 1130x2700mm | 2260x2700mm |
| Spitfire S200 Front Door | 1150x2250mm | 2190x2200mm |
| RK Door Systems Exclusive Front Door | 1300x3000mm | 2300x2200mm |
| Bereco Timber Front Door | 1181x2500mm | 2073x2500mm |
| Express Bifolds Aluminium Front Door | 1200x2550mm | 2390x2550mm |
| Pirnar Front Doors by Arkay Windows | 1300x3000mm | 2700x3000mm |
| Hormann Thermocarbon Front Doors | 1200x3000mm | 2200x3000mm |
| Conventional Glazed Aluminium Door | 1200x2400mm | 2400x2400mm |
So taking some well-known brands, the size advantages of aluminium over composite doors is significant. An aluminium door comes up to 30% bigger than a typical composite door.
Colours and Textures.
All the principal front door manufacturers offer RAL, anodised, textured or metallic colours. Options include satin, matt or gloss finishes and mixtures of different colours inside and out. Origin, Smart Systems and other brands also provide a range of wood effect finishes using the sublimation process.
Some doors use a conventional powder-coated method others offer enhanced protection finishes. Then you get innovation using a combination of aluminium and PVCu such as the excellent Alumina system, customised into a front door.
Glass options for aluminium doors.
With some of the best aluminium entrance doors, triple glazing comes as standard. Also standard is toughened or laminated safety glass. There’s even quadruple glazing available with some products within the aluminium panels.
The glass options available with front doors are extensive with traditional and contemporary glass designs. Door numbers, acid etching, sandblasting, colouring and custom-designs come with most door brands.
Customising aluminium entrance doors for your home.
Aside from the handle choices and door accessories, aluminium doors provide great customisation options. Doors are available with glazed panels to the sides or above.
You can integrate these doors within a two-storey screen or one-off design of entrance screen. Accessibility is taken care of with a choice of standard rebated or low thresholds for wheelchair access. Finally, you can use all the colour advantages of powder-coated aluminium. Powder coating allows single or dual colours, wood effect finishes, contrasting doors and frames and much more besides.
As a result, you can integrate your front door within a screen or create an individual stand-alone front door.
How secure are aluminium front doors?
It goes without saying that as a current and highly engineered front door, the best aluminium entrance doors are certified to several security standards. Some of these standards are British. Other doors originate from Europe and are certified to European standards. British certification includes Secured by Design, Document Q, PAS24 and others. European standards you will see include WK2, WK3, RC2-4 and others. Many of these are harmonised standards. Therefore you have relative peace of mind.
The locking systems on the best aluminium entrance doors like the excellent Dutemann or Spitfire products use some of the best door locks such as Winkhaus. Front doors are substantially more robust and secure than many side and backdoors in our homes.
Other security features in some of the best aluminium entrance doors include hidden door hinges, laminated glass, toughened safety glass, concealed fixings and internal beading of any glazing. We must mention the frame construction of aluminium doors generally that is one of the most secure mechanical methods of door construction with cleats and brackets as well as sealants all creating a sturdy door and frame joint.
How much do aluminium front doors cost?
Because of the considerable choices in aluminium front doors, it is challenging to provide a good indication of prices. The styles, glazing options, hardware choices and the supply chain all affect the price you pay. However, as a very approximate guide, the below prices are based upon a single coloured door with a combination glass and panel construction and standard high security locking system.
Prices include VAT and fitting. We strongly recommend you obtain a firm quotation.
| Brand | Starting Approximate Prices |
|---|---|
| Glasswin Front Doors | £1500 |
| Origin Residential Front Door | £1600-£3500 |
| Dutemann Haus Door | £3000 |
| Smart Systems Designer Front Doors | £2500 |
| Hormann Thermocarbon Front Doors | £3200 upwards |
| Pirnar Front Doors | £4000 upwards |
| Spitfire S500 Front Doors | £6300 upwards |
| Express Bifolds Aluminium Front Door | £3200 upwards |
| RK Door Systems Front Door | £4500 upwards |
Some popular brands of aluminium front doors.
You can integrate a decorative panel into virtually any aluminium residential door system. Some brands do this in a very simple way to make aluminium front doors affordable. Other brands go the extra mile with better design, construction and door performance. Here are just some of the brands to consider.
| Mid-Range Front Doors | High-End Front Doors |
|---|---|
| Hallmark Architect Collection | Techni Doors made by Pantelos Group |
| Glasswin Silver Series | Glasswin Gold, Platinum and Diamond Series |
| Lumidorr by Arkay Windows | Inotherm Doors |
| Origin Residential Front Door | RK Door Systems Excellence Front Door |
| Smart Systems Designer Doors | Spitfire S700 pivot doors |
| Spitfire S200 | Spitfire S500 Luxury Series |
| Express Aluminium Front Door | Hörmann ThermoSafe |
| Sunflex Front Doors | PortaNova Doors |
| RK Door Systems Entre Economy Range | Reynaers Pivot Doors |
| Hörmann Thermo65 | Schuco front doors, all types |
| Alumina by Liniar residential door | Hormann Doors |
| Pirnar Optimum and Premium Range | Pirnar by Arkay Windows |
| Gerda Thermo Premium and Thermo Prime | Gerda Altus |
Summary – What to think about when buying aluminium entrance doors.
You can expect to pay more for the best aluminium entrance doors than any composite door. Some high-end aluminium doors are also on a similar price point to timber front doors. Price aside, here is what you should consider before you buy a new aluminium entrance door.
- Traditional door styles are more limited than contemporary designs.
- Current ‘gadgets’ such as fingerprint scanners or access control systems may be obsolete/difficult to work with in years to come.
- We do not recommend you buy these doors on a trade supply only basis. Expert installation is essential.
- Some door companies will require a qualified electrician where electrics are involved.
- Avoid stock size doors sold online. Always have a professional survey carried out.
- The panelled front door glazed into the door sash provides the most affordable option.
Composite doors often try to mimic the authentic product of which aluminium doors are one. In choosing the brands mentioned in this article or any of the many quality products, you are getting some of the best aluminium entrance doors you can buy.
These superb products are unlike the multitude of me-too composite doors on the market. They are individual, their looks justify the price and are an investment in your home. Try to view these doors side by side with a composite door and the differences are immediately noticeable.
The appearance, opening and closing action and the quality of construction are unlike any composite front door.
Above all, the slim lines and strength of aluminium, not only give you neater looking doors but also without the size limitation of composite door.
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