Kitchen French Doors: 8 Dressing Ideas

Kitchen French doors can be a beautiful addition to a home. While many kitchens have an external door, French doors offer something extra – access to a garden or patio and abundant natural light.

The extra light that French doors often offer also means thinking carefully about light control and privacy. With these two things in mind, we’ve compiled a detailed list that walks you through some of the best and most attractive window dressing ideas for French doors in your kitchen space!

Quick answer: A vast range of practical window dressings is available for kitchen French doors. Some of the most effective include:

Roman blinds
Roller blinds
Shutters
Sheer curtains
Frosting or faux-stained glass films
Honeycomb blinds
Vertical blinds

Table of contents

Roman blinds for French doors
Roller blinds for a French door
Shutters for French doors
Sheer curtains for exterior French doors
Frosting films for French doors
Honeycomb blinds for external French doors
Vertical blinds for French doors
Faux-stained glass for French doors
Which style of window dressing would suit your kitchen French doors?

Roman blinds for French doors

Roman blinds are a versatile window treatment for French doors, made from fabric that folds neatly into horizontal pleats when raised. Light control and privacy are easily achieved by lowering Roman blinds.

Roman blinds, made of fabric, offer a clean, stylish look that complements various interior design ideas.

Made-to-measure blind manufacturers will generally also over Roman blinds created with your choice of colour, pattern and material. This makes it easy to match new Roman blinds to a specific colour, pattern, or standout feature in your kitchen.

Roller blinds for a French door

Roller blinds are perfect for a practical and modern choice for French doors, featuring a single fabric or material piece that rolls up onto a tube when raised.

Rollers are easy to operate and can be fully lowered for maximum privacy and light control. If you’d prefer to reduce the light in your room a little, you can lower the roller blinds as much or as little as you wish.

Since Roller blinds are created from a single piece of fabric, companies that offer made-to-measure options can often also customise the design on a roller blind. You can choose from various colours, patterns, images and embellishments.

Shutters for French doors

French Door Shutters are a popular option in the kitchen because of their timeless style and versatility. The same shutters look as good in a contemporary home as in traditional interiors.

Generally, shutters for French doors will be mounted on discreet tracks just in front of the doors. This means they can slide back bi-fold – with each side closing in a concertina effect, taking up minimal space in your kitchen.

Shutters for French doors are available in many styles and colours. For instance, you may adjust the louvre size, opt for hidden or exposed tilt rods, or even add horizontal bars to match the glazing bars in your doors.

Although often made of hardwood, shutters for kitchens are often made of a rigid ABS faux-wood material. This looks virtually identical to natural wood – but is better at standing up to the moisture often present in kitchens.

Sheer curtains for exterior French doors

Sheer curtains are an elegant way to dress French doors in your kitchen area. They’re made using a lightweight, translucent fabric, which can be hung from a minimal curtain rail.

The nature of the light fabric used for sheer curtains means they gently diffuse the natural light. This creates a soothing and inviting atmosphere while retaining a sense of openness.

Although not wholly opaque, sheer curtains offer some privacy by obscuring your kitchen’s view outside your home. Since they’re not completely opaque, they’re an ideal choice if you’d still like to be able to look out over your garden or patio.

Sheer curtains are easy to install and can usually be taken down quickly if they need to be cleaned. The huge range of patterns and fabric types makes them equally home in traditional and modern homes.

sheer curtains on french doors in kitchen

Frosting films for French doors

Frosting films are incredibly cost-effective for dressing French doors or folding doors. When applied to the glazed section of your doors, these adhesive films create the effect of frosted glass.

Although they obscure the view through your French doors, they don’t stop light from entering your room. This makes them a good choice if you’d like to control privacy without darkening your space.

Frosting films can be applied to the entire pane of glass. Alternatively, you may pick a pattern, gradient, or design that ties into the look of your kitchen.

Since a film doesn’t add any bulk to two doors, they are especially popular in kitchens with a clean and sharp, minimal design.

Honeycomb blinds for external French doors

Honeycomb blinds are a specific type of pleated blinds. They slide down in a fixed frame mounted discreetly on French doors. As such, they can be opened to any level, allowing you to control how much light enters your kitchen.

Honeycomb blinds get their name because of the inside structure of the blind. The honeycomb-shaped cells inside the blind do an excellent job of adding insulation, helping to manage the heat in your kitchen.

This honeycomb design is also very effective at preventing light from entering your kitchen when paired with a darker material finish. This makes them a great choice if you like to dim the light, enjoy a relaxed meal, or regularly entertain in your kitchen.

Vertical blinds for French doors

If you are looking for kitchen door blinds then look no further than verical blinds. Vertical blinds are a series of vertical fabric panels mounted on a track just above and in front of your kitchen doors. The angle of the panels can be adjusted to suit the level of privacy and light control you need.

Vertical blinds can also be fully retracted, letting you enjoy an unspoiled view from your French doors.

Like roller and Roman blinds, made-to-measure vertical blinds can be created using your choice of fabrics – meaning you can choose from an almost endless range of colours, textures, patterns, and designs.

Faux-stained glass for French doors

Applying a specially-made film to the glass for a faux stained-glass effect on your kitchen’s French doors. This makes it possible to get a stained-glass effect in your kitchen without replacing the glazing.

Like frosted glass film, this is a perfect way of dressing your windows without adding bulk. It’s also cost-effective and can be easily removed if your tastes change. As a bonus, stained-glass effect films are straightforward to keep clean.

Faux-stained glass doesn’t stop the daylight from entering your room, so it’s not the best choice if you want to be able to control the midday sun. However, your chosen colour will filter the light, so it does a great job of changing the room’s ambience.

Although a stained glass effect doesn’t offer total privacy if someone tries to look through it, it’s a good way of distorting the view of most passers-by or passing traffic.

Which style of window dressing would suit your kitchen French doors?

Hopefully, this guide has given you some options when dressing French doors in a kitchen.

If you’re looking for the ultimate in light control and privacy, it’s hard to beat kitchen shutters or vertical blinds.

However, if light control is less of a concern, sheer curtains or adhesive films are an excellent and cost-effective way to add privacy.

If adding a window dressing that ties into patterns or designs elsewhere in your kitchen sounds like it would work well in your home, choosing from a wide range of fabric blinds for kitchen French doors will add privacy, light control, and a splash of personalisation!