If you follow me on social media you will know how much I love these doors. We sell and install them at our place nearly every week and I think the upside potential to this product is absolutely massive.

So I thought now would be an ideal time to actually do a review on this killer product.

Origin OI30 – what you need to know

Before I wax lyrical about what I think about these, here are some of the main bullet points you should know about this product:

  • first launched in Black, now available in more than 150 colours – matching the same offering on their other products
  • available in fixed screens, corner sections, single doors and double doors
  • 4mm, 6mm and 6.8mm glazing options
  • three ranges of handles: standard, contemporary, knurled
  • available with or without an outer frame
  • available with or without kick plates and bottom panels
  • option to have latch and key locking where needed

You can download the full technical manual on the range by clicking here.

By far Black is the most popular. In fact I have only quoted ONE door that has not been Black. It was Oyster White I believe. But Black works in most settings and it the colour that is most associated with the classical steel-look that is very much back in fashion both in interior design and for external windows and doors as well.

Solid build quality

These things aren’t cheap, and they’re not meant to be. These internal doors are designed to create a statement inside a house and is leagues above any off-the-shelf standard internal door type product. So, for the money you and the end user will pay, you would hope that the quality and build reflects the price point.

It does. Once glazed these frames are solid and when they are installed they open and close with a reassuringly solid click. I did mention in the bullet points that the Origin OI30 internal doors come with three glazing options. We chose to go for the 6mm toughened option. Mainly because, having kids of my own and a busy house, that extra protection for the glazing may well come in handy more than you think, and it raises the overall weight and feel just that bit higher.

Another, perhaps less intended but certainly positive point is that homeowners are coming back to me saying that these are good for blocking out noise. I personally don’t use that as a USP as these doors are not specifically noise-reduction internal doors. But this does appear to be a happy coincidence.

The handles also deliver on style and quality. I personally prefer the Knurled style handles to the rest as I think it provides a small bit of additional contrast to the minimalist frames. However we do sell a lot of the standard shape handles which come in Black and seem to be popular due to their simple design. I like the Contemporary range as well but find the grip not as comfortable as the Knurled or standard handles.

The Origin OI30 internal doors do come with door stops as additional items and also has a keep which can be installed into the floor to allow the bottom shoot bolt on double doors to be engaged. However, drawing on my experience in selling these so far, almost no one chooses to have either as a lot of the time these are going into renovation projects with new floors and I don’t think clients fancy the idea of drilling holes into expensive new floors to have a door stop as a potential toe-stubbing tool.

Creating the steel-look

The heritage, steel-look is very much back with a bang and is one of the reasons why the Origin OI30 internal doors are so popular. They have very thin frames and in Black do a very good job in creating the steel look that was born in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. Although it is a style that has never really fallen out of fashion, the power of social media is certainly turbo-charging their resurgence and I expect that trend to continue for the next few years and even longer than that.

Although the popular option is to have two or three horizontal splits across the doors, you can add more and add vertical splits as well to really go for the steel bar effect. It is worth noting that the more splits you have the less glazing there will be so therefore less light. One of the benefits of these doors is to allow light to flow between rooms.

What I have also found is homeowners are using these doors to put back in barriers to open-plan living spaces. I sense that we are now comfortable past the large open-plan phase of interior design, with homeowners wishing to close off spaces to make them feel cosier. What these doors do allow though is to move between open and closed spaces on demand. For example, if you are entertaining and have friends and family round and you need that space again, you can just throw the doors open and you go from divided space to open space again. Even when closed, the glazing does allow for a more open feel than a regular timber internal door does.

Gallery

Here are some handpicked examples of some of our own recent installations. I particularly like the single door with side and top panel as well as the 3m wide double doors and side panels used as a screen:

Areas to update

As with all things in life, improvements can be made. There are a couple of updates I would love to see added to this range over time. The first is to produce a fire rated option of this door. At the moment the internal doors are not fire rated, but as they become increasingly popular, and they will, the demand for fire rated internal aluminium doors will rise. These will need to be used on renovation projects such as loft conversions/extensions.

The second is to incorporate some more design options. I am seeing a rapid increase in dedicated internal door companies and they are offering different design options. I think if Origin were to add a fire door option and allow for more designs, they could corner a very wide portion of the market. The way they market their brand and operate the website as a lead generator means they have significant brand power, and ticking off these two small boxes would give them additional fire power.

Future potential

I strongly believe that the demand for steel-look aluminium internal doors is only going one way and that is up, and fast. We have noticed a huge increase in our area for these doors and social media is doing a very effective job in driving that demand.

For anyone who follows home improvement accounts on Instagram or Pinterest I can guarantee you will have seen these doors in plenty of homes and that is helping to educate the wider public online about the availability of these fantastic doors.

If you are an installer and looking to add new revenue streams to your business in these tough times, this is a very profitable one to look at. The doors are simple to install, often within an hour once you have a few under your belt. They command good margins and they are designed so well they pretty much sell themselves. This is a quick and readily available opportunity and I would urge installers to take a serious look at them.

Find out more about Origin OI30 internal doors: https://origin-global.com/internal-doors

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