Sounds like a great combo Mairead, we're in the process of doing something similar (just without the bifolds!). You could even look at having a 'Stiffkey Blue' Island for contrast (farrow & ball colour again). Wood would provide a warmer feel and if you found the right choice, the balance would be great against the hand-painted units. Ultimately both can be integrated so they look like they run outside, beyond the bifolds, which will be the look i'm sure you want to achieve. Regards, SA Designs

Just make sure you have thought through it properly. Full glass wall along would mean you couldnt have any furniture at all anywhere along that wall, or at least not the last 80cm of length before the doors. It would make the room much colder - vertical radiators (taking up more wall space), underfloor heating? Just a thought - you have a huge expanse of glass/windows at the moment (way more than the average lounge) and you say you don't feel you get a lot of light in....... not sure if full length doors would make that much of a difference. Maybe its more to do with the position of the house.

Hi! I totally know what you mean about all the decision making. I’m constantly on here because I just can’t face making decisions anymore - there are too many of them. Ha ha. Ok so doors- I think it would bug you if you are used to going out via the kitchen and can’t do. Taking rubbish out etc etc back and forth. Bifold - yes I’m a set of 3 you could have the door opening on its own. Usually it would open to the left ie against the middle one then if you wanted to open all of them you just slide them over. Ideal config would be a traffic door opening to the right and a set of 2 bifolds opening to the right (so they would stack to the kitchen end. But I don’t know if that is possible or not but worth asking a supplier!

Go for triple. double glazing should be a thing of the past. Triple glazing should get you closer to a u-value of 0.8 rather than the 1.3 stated, though that's with a reputable company. south facing with big windows will always be a concern with solar gain, one of the houses we done had to install a/c because it was so bad, even with triple glazing. though as you say blinds can be used! In the houses we've built in the past 6 years (how long I've been with the company) none of them have been double glazed. the science supports the use of triple glazing and be wary of any window manufacturer that tries to say otherwise.