Making an Entrance: Entry Door Styles for Any Home

Front entry doors on residential homes have come a long way over the years, and it’s rather remarkable to see how they’ve changed alongside the architectural styles of homes in the U.S. From traditional colonial homes to modern structures, there’s a wide variety of entry door styles that can be adopted, altered and installed on a home. When you combine this with the customization options we offer at Cambek, there are limitless possibilities when it comes to designing an entry door for any home, regardless of its architectural style. 

Where can you begin? If you have nothing but a blank sheet of paper and a few ideas, we can help you get started. There are many entry door styles to choose between, and they all make a great starting point for your design. 

These are the most common types of entry door styles that have evolved over the years. 

Batten Doors

Board and batten doors are a simple, traditional and very time-honored style of entry door that have been seen on home styles ranging from Post Medieval English architecture to Dutch and French Colonials. They are constructed of boards stacked in a row and held together by support battens that are placed perpendicularly or diagonally on the door (hence the board and batten name). Board and batten doors have seen a major resurgence over the years as more rustic and rural styles have made their way back into mainstream homes. 

Designers have a lot of free reign with board and batten doors because they can customize the placement and size of the support battens. Although the doors appear to have a simple style, each door built can vary greatly from the next.  

Board and batten doors can be split horizontally, allowing the top and bottom sections to open independently, or they can be split vertically to create a double door that is unique in how it opens and closes. 

Homes featuring batten doors include: 

• Post Medieval English 
• Dutch Colonial 
• French Colonial 
• Tudors 
• Mission/Spanish Eclectic  

Panel Doors

Panel doors are aptly named because of how they are constructed. Rather than being made of a single piece of wood, they are instead comprised of panels that are pieced together to create the finished door. They can feature raised or recessed areas, giving designers the freedom to stylize the appearance of their door as they see fit. A variety of other features including stiles, rails, mullions and even glass panes or lites. 

Panel doors have traditionally been featured in many architectural styles over the last few centuries, including Georgian, Adam, Greek and Gothic Revival, and Italianate. The great thing about panel doors is how simple or elaborately they can be designed. They can be customized to fit the style of almost any home. 

Homes featuring panel doors include: 

• Georgian 
• Adam 
• Greek Revival 
• Gothic Revival 
• Italianate 
• Second Empire 
• Stick 
• Queen Anne 
• Shingle 
• Folk 
• Colonial Revival 
• Neoclassical 
• Prairie/Craftsman 

Heavy Plank Doors

One of the oldest and simplest styles of doors are plank doors, but don’t let the word simple fool you. Plank doors feature a number of customizable and unique features that include decorative nails and nail patterns, door joints and grooves and hinges. Prominent in Spanish colonial homes of the 17th-19th centuries, plank doors can be shaped, sized and designed to fit both traditional and modern homes. Best of all, their simplistic designs really let the quality and natural beauty of the wood be the centerpiece of the door. 

Homes featuring plank doors include: 

• Spanish Colonial 
• English Colonial 
• French Colonial 
• Many Modern Homes 

Ready to begin designing your custom entry door? Contact Cambek for a free design consultation. 

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