Do you want French or Hinged patio?

Had looked at both but will probably end up going with the hinged patio door. That's what we have now.

Of you short list there, I would say that Andersen or Marvin are the better of the two.

Maybe take a peak at Provia as well.

Thanks windowsonwashington. I did a little more research today and am starting to lean towards the Marvin full line door with LoE-366, prairie 9 grids and the integrated blinds.

I was never a big fan of in the glass mini blinds, and I like how they've come out with the Levolor style push/pull fabric shades that sit behind the glass.

Might end up with sticker shock when I get a quote, but thankfully only have to buy one door at the moment.

Will check out Andersen and Provia as well. Not familiar with Provia, but I was thinking that either Andersen or Pella had a door that was similar.

Simonton has been great for the windows ... no complaints ... but I think I'm going to pass on them for the patio door. Just seems like there are better options available.

Thanks again for the feedback.

John

I think that best blinds between the glass system is the pella. If you are looking at Marvin then you may as well look at the Designer pella.

While I would agree that the serviceability of the Pella blinds is nice, what about the rest of the door?

I put strips of clear plastic wrap ( used for food) on my windows for the winter, the 1/2 inch space between the glass and plastic goes a long way to keep out the cold. I live in Colorado and I got to do what a can up here lol

Had a chance to get a quote on the Marvin full line door today. Wow ... looks like I was right about the sticker shock. Right around $1900 for a single door. Of that it seems the cellular shade accounts for about $500 of the cost.

I need to research further, but it sounds like the shade is something you can add-on after the fact if you determine it's something you absolutely need to have.

Still liking the Marvin full line, and can probably scale certain options back to bring down costs, but I'm going to check out the Integrity/Infinity and Andersen/Pella before making the final call.

I am not sure what you were expecting it to come in at, but that does not appear unreasonable to me at all with that blinds option.

For a quality single door (not even as well respected as Marvin) you are going to pay well over $1,000 in my area.

Agreed. I was thinking the higher side of $800-$1400 as configured.

It was the cost of the shade that surprised me and the salesman both. That's about 50% of the base price of the door.

The shades can be ordered for the door later and be retrofit. There is a button that can be pressed when the order for the door is placed that lets Marvin know that shades will be ordered later on. This creates a saved ready to go order contingent on color selection so that when you are ready to go no further measuring or set up is required. I believe they prep the door to accept the shades which makes it a lot easier to install them later. I have been told that if the door is not prepped the retro fit is somewhat difficult and problematic.