Smooth Riding?

[puntloos]

Apologies for vague title and non-ideal location but:
 

Currently living in a fairly modern rental, it has pocket doors, kitchens with self-closing drawers, large pull-out larders (example) cabinets etc.

And frankly I'm disappointed with how easy many of these are to operate with one hand. 

 

- with one hand it's near-impossible to open the 1m60 wide (double, so with a clever mechanism) eclisse pocket door.

- with one hand - same for the pull-out larders. 

 

One key problem with these is that the actual grips are tiny, for example the "handle" in the pocket door is maybe 0.7cm deep, but also the doors run "okay" but definitely not with one pinky.

 

What is reasonable to expect from good pocket doors, larders etc? Should you be able to open/close them literally with your pinky (without any special pinkyweightliftingchampionship skills)? 

And will that level of smoothness stay for 5? 10? 20 years?

 

[Ferdinand]

Dear Lord. 

 

Giving pocket doors to a tenant ... risky !

 

That landlord owns a pocket-door manufacturing company.

 

?

[Ferdinand]

I think it will depend more on the precise product you buy.

 

And the sophistication will change over time.

 

My (I assume) midrange larder cupboards have been in since 2010, an they do not open with a pinky, despite running on runners and rollers.

 

F

[puntloos]

Why are pocket doors for tenants risky? But yes we have not one set, but 2! 

 

Frankly they are "okay" but a 1m60 wide (so the individual doors are 80 I guess) door set requires a meaningful amount of effort - my 3 year old manages, but barely. 

Will a 3m wide pocket door instantly double the effort needed? Which brands are sooperdooper fancy and will open better and stay better? Or are the differences minimal since this is just raw physics - trying to move (guessing) 2x50kg of wood and glass will be impossible with a pinky unless you have some "gear" or "pully"  system that will take the load off?

 

The larders are kinda the same story, very thin grip so you can really only get a fingertip in (so I need 4-6 finger(tip)s to be able to move it). But yeah, filled with cans and packets of flour etc, so lots of weight..

 

 

[Russell griffiths]

Pull out larders are a problem just waiting to happen, they get overloaded and door misalignment happens as soon as you load them. 

Avoid. 

[wozza]

31 minutes ago, Russell griffiths said:

Pull out larders are a problem just waiting to happen, they get overloaded and door misalignment happens as soon as you load them. 

Avoid. 

 

We had a 500mm wide one fitted with a new kitchen - we had loads of issues with it within the first year, called them out a few times to adjust etc.

 

After about 18 months it got very difficult to use and was not longer under warranty (check the small print with virtually any kitchen company as they wear out)

 

I removed it and fitted a number of Blum internal drawers - much better and it held much more stuff.

[puntloos]

Thanks Gents, yeah the larder thing seems somewhat nice to have an overview but it sounds like something that would fail too easily.

 

 

What are the feelings on pocket doors? Clearly they are more complicated than standard doors, but they have major space saving benefits in my design. Are they reliable enough for fairly common use?

[Ferdinand]

20 hours ago, puntloos said:

Why are pocket doors for tenants risky? But yes we have not one set, but 2! 

 

 

 

Typically they would be easy to break and expensive to repair. You can't expect them to work with no maintenance for 5 years.

 

And as for larder units ... ?

 

(Writing from the LL side)