Ignoring the possible stretch between iron doors and appliances, and resisting the urge to suggest moving where iron doors aren't necessary, some metallurgical approaches come to mind.

If you want no rust, the iron chemistry has to be enhanced by chromium and nickel. A stainless steel in the 300 series will be best for that purpose. Slabs could be CNC machined to any design one wanted for a price not greater than several SubZero refrigerators.

In the controlled rust category, there is a steel designed to rust just enough to self-passivate. Such steel can be seen on highways where brownish-colored lamp poles are mounted. I don't recall what this stuff is named.

My understanding is wrought iron resists rusting, perhaps due to slag inclusions, but I'm not sure how such iron could be worked into a door. Perhaps wrought decoration on a laminated white oak door would be strong enough. White oak worked for the USS Constitution.

kas

Hi Kas-
I am new to gardenweb so I accidentally posted the iron door question on the appliance section..sorry! I was able to repost in a more appropriate section of the site. I do, however, appreciate the response. I am very surprised that there is so much confusion about wrought iron doors. Somebody asked me if I live in the ghetto to "need" iron doors!!!! Iron doors, like the ones found on on abbyirondoors.com, are absolutely beautiful and found in most high end southern homes. I have seen them on some of the highest end homes in NJâ¦but my concern is that they are not very prevalent in the northeast. I do know one person who splurged and got these type of doors in my neighborhood.. but he has had condensation issues with it (about two years old). I am actually now leaning towards a low maintenance fiberglass door with decorative iron grills insteadâ¦but the look of the those wrought iron doors is just so beautiful! I wish I could find someone in this area who has had them for sometime and used a good company.

Nina123... I'm with you. I'm searching of Garden Web for more info/opinions but can't find any. Surprised people don't know what you're talking about. Need info asap and I too am considering buying from abbyirondoors.~

Hi JuniperSt-
Just an FYI- I have a friend who used abbyirondoors, and he would not recommend them. He said they do not return phone calls or emails if there is a problem and he has condensation issues. Tough to find a good company/ reviews...

Not sure if your still looking. Take a look at Durango Doors in Texas, call the Austin location as they deal with out of state sales. We are considering them for an out of state build and they are quite reasonably priced. I'm still checking with them, but delivery might be a problem, but it's worth checking into. Not sure if anyone using them has had condensation problems.

Ghetto!

I'm sure the bulk of this thread has moved to another forum, but for the sake of clarity, I wanted to post my response...

Ghetto... NOT!!!! Around my part of the country at least, these decorative iron doors are sought after. These are the decorative iron scroll doors with glass and not a solid metal security door.

In working with builders a few years ago, they were VERY common and in fact, 'required' to get 'the look' that everyone expected in those very high end, multi-million dollar homes. It became so popular, (and still is), that people in very modest homes were trading them out for plain wood doors and reportably increased the home's value right away.

I have not owned them personally but worked in many of those houses and never saw any condensation or rust issues. But maybe it depends on the humidity in the area? Maybe a special coating if humidity is an issue? I did prefer the ones that have the glass door section that opens separately which can let in nice breezes in the Spring and Fall. The interior glass door is hinged as a separate unit from the iron door itself so the iron door stays closed and locked while the interior in-swinging glass door can be opened. So the iron grillwork allows pets, kids or others from entering (or escaping) yet allows the breeze. Pretty cool.

The picture below is from one of those high dollar homes that I was talking about in my city. This one is WAY over the top on price, as you can see. Stunning IMO. Just a FYI. Hope it helps for info. And a better visual.

(edited for clarity)

This post was edited by cindallas on Fri, Sep 5, 14 at 16:53

In any circumstance where the temperature of the glass or of the iron becomes lower than the dew point of the humidity of the air, condensation will occur. This could happen due to interior air conditioning, or due to radiational cooling in high humidity air (the same way dew is formed). In any case, I think the dual door approach is a good one, as once the inner glass door is opened, the condensation should rapidly disappear. One would want a bug-free environment.

kas