What are Custom Doors?

While many people searching for interior or exterior doors or doors for cabinets can purchase from in-stock supplies at their local home improvement store, some people may find it necessary or more attractive to order custom doors. Essentially, anything made custom is made per the customer’s specifications and may be cut in different sizes or offer various features that a premade item doesn’t. For those who have unusually sized doorways, or want a specific look that can’t be obtained with premade doors, custom doors may provide an ideal solution.

What defines "custom" may differ for each door manufacturer. Sometimes the term custom means that people can choose from a stock of premade doors and have them altered slightly to fit their preferences. For example, a person might like the look of a door but want it painted in a specific color. Alternately, a certain door style might be desirable but needs to be cut to certain specifications to fit in a doorway. Custom may only mean adapting available in-stock doors for fit or appearance.

Adapting a premade door by changing color, size or features isn’t a bad option. Yet people will be limited to the styles each manufacturer has on hand. This may not provide a door that is sufficiently unique. An alternative way to obtain custom doors is to have them manufactured “from scratch” so that all aspects of the door, like materials, size, color, and hardware, are exactly to the customer’s specifications. This is undoubtedly more expensive, but it certainly creates a significant design statement.

Due to the many manufacturers that customize doors or create them solely from customer requirements, there is huge variety in custom doors available. They can be made of all different kinds of materials including metal, glass, and various woods. Shapes vary, and people can buy things like rounded doors, oblong ones or double doors to fit different kinds of doorframes.

Though many people may think of custom doors as relating only to large doors for interior or exterior rooms, there are also vendors who specialize in creating custom cabinet doors. These again can be made of many materials and to a buyer’s specification or may be customized from in-stock models.

People who’d like to save a little money and who are handy may be able to suitably customize premade doors on their own. For instance, they can repaint doors with various colors or finishes to get the look they want, and many doors can be cut or adjusted slightly to fit in different openings. Changes to door hardware are easiest to make and can include choosing doorknobs or attachments for doors of many different kinds.