5 Timeless & Versatile Door Handles Perfect for Any Home
When it comes to door design, one of the most important and sometimes overlooked design features are the handles. The type of door handle you choose will depend on the style of your door to ensure your door handle doesnāt clash or worse, fit with the appearance and shape of your door. Below, weāve outlined some of the most iconic and versatile types of door handles to help inspire your purchase.
1: The Lever on Backplate Door Handle
- Where seen: toilet doors, bathroom doors, washroom doors
- Price: Ā£
- Style: Modern
This type of door handle is among the most common and desired. A simple door handle design that features a backplate with a traditional style handle and thumb turn. Door handles with backplates often provide a range of styles to choose from, including square, curved or fleur de lys concepts (for more traditional homes). These door handle types are commonly seen on doors to bathrooms, toilets and washrooms.
2: Lever on Rose Handles
- Where seen: front doors, back doors, conservatory & orangery doors
- Price: Ā£Ā£
- Style: Modern (can also be made to look traditional if made bespoke in cast iron, brass or pewter)
In a similar style to the above, rose door handles feature a circular or square backplate. Unlike the fixings on standard backplate handles, rose handles are designed to hide them, offering a smooth and sleek finish. Rose levels are far smaller than backplates and canāt be designed with a locking handle (but can have a separate lock installed above or below).
Similar to backplate types of door handles, rose handles come in a range of styles and colours to complement your door and the rest of your homeās interior design.
3: D-Type Handles
- Where seen: commercial office doors, cabinet doors, sliding doors
- Price: Ā£
- Style: Modern
As their name suggests, D-type or D-pull handles are a fantastic and minimalistic option for doors that donāt require latches. D-pull handles come in a wide variety of styles and colours because of their simple design. Curved and straight-edge D-handles are among the most common but you can also order bespoke handles if this is something you require
4: Flush Handles
- Where seen: sliding patio doors, patio handles, shower doors
- Price: Ā£Ā£
- Style: Modern
This type of door handle is commonly used in sliding doors and is fitted within the door itself. This allows the handles to fit flush inside and not poke out, which is ideal for keeping that sleek style sliding doors are renowned for. However, you do have a choice over the size and style of flush handles. Popular designs include quaint finger pulls, squares and circle-based designs.
5: Doorknobs
- Where seen: living room and bedroom doors, interior doors
- Price: Ā£Ā£
- Style: Modern & traditional
A classic type of door handle that works well in both traditional and contemporary homes. Door knobs have been used for centuries because of their low cost and versatile design. They are usually sphere-shaped and can be combined with lock mechanisms for living room and bedroom doors.
Being versatile door handles, doorknobs can be designed to match both the door and the interior design of the property, whether it is contemporary or modern. For example, for modern homes, doorknobs can be designed in stainless steel or chrome stylings, for traditional homes, a cast iron or wooden doorknob may be more preferable.
You can install locks underneath or even within doorknobs, depending on the style youāre going for.
Door Furniture is Also Worth Considering
Alongside door handles comes door furniture. Whether youāre in the process of buying door handles for your front or back door or interior doors, itās a good idea to consider pairing your new handle with door furniture to complete your design.
There are a number of fantastic considerations to take into account when shopping for door furniture. Whether itās a traditional brass Lion or Doctor Knocker or a door viewer for that extra bit of privacy and safety. Door furniture and accessories do not just add another aesthetic point of interest to your front door, but an additional sense of security.
If youāre considering giving your front door an aesthetic and security advantage, take a look at our door furniture page.
Choose a Style That Matches Your Door
Of course, with each type of door handle labelled above, there will be variations. For example, you will find different lever styles and backplates for backplate door handles, some curved, some straight. The same goes for D-type handles and doorknobs, there are hundreds of different styles and colours to choose from depending on the type of door you have and where itās located in your home.
If youāre interested in our door furniture, please explore our range today.
FAQs
While there are several variations of door handles, there are three core types of the door handle. These are level handles, pull handles and doorknobs.
Both are used to open and close a door, however, a door handle is lever operated, whereas a doorknob is typically spherical in design. Doorknobs need to be designed to ensure thereās enough backset to allow room for twisting to make the door open easier.
Not necessarily. The most common door handle sizes are 2 ā inches and 2 /34 inches. Some hardware is able to fit multiple backsets, however. Just be sure that the hardware you select fits your door!