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What are the Pros and Cons of Sliding Closet Doors?

G. Wiesen
G. Wiesen

There are a number of potential merits and flaws when it comes to using sliding closet doors, such as the ability to easily remove them and the somewhat related issue of the frequency with which they can fall off the tracks. They may also provide a homeowner with ease of use without taking up too much room, especially for collapsible accordion style doors. Other types of sliding closet doors can reduce the amount of space that can be viewed in a closet, such as with panel style sliding doors that always keep part of the closet closed during use.

Sliding closet doors are a type of closet door that, rather than opening like a door on a hinge, opens by having some part of the door on a track and then sliding to open and close. These types of doors can be made in a number of different styles with common types including those made from two or more panels that can slide behind each other, and accordion style doors that collapse when opened. They can also connect only to a single track at the top or bottom of the doors, or they can have both tracks for more stability and security.

Woman posing
Woman posing

One of the major benefits of sliding closet doors is that they can be removed from the tracks to keep a closet open at all times. This is easy in an apartment or similar type of housing where a resident does not want to make permanent changes to the rooms, since it is easy to simply replace the doors on the tracks before moving out. The accordion style sliding closet doors are also quite convenient since when open they fold into a fairly small space and can allow the entire closet to be viewed and accessed without requiring room to swing outward like hinged doors often do.

There are also some potential flaws and drawbacks to sliding closet doors, however, such as an unfortunate tendency for the doors to come off the tracks. This can lead to frustration and even potential injury or property damage, as the doors may fall freely outward or inward. The panel style of sliding closet doors can also be frustrating since they only slide in front or behind each other. This means that one portion of the closet will be open, but the rest of the closet will typically be closed since the panels will have to be somewhere, and thereby not allow someone full access to the entire closet in a single look.

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