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Wood wins the prize for appearance. It is beautiful, natural, and tactile. With either custom- or manufactured-wood doors, you can choose from several species meant to be finished naturally—including oak, cherry, walnut, mahogany, maple, fir, and pine—or paint-grade doors from any of several softwoods. Because of their vulnerability to moisture and sun, wood doors must be maintained with a durable finish. Most mass-produced doors are made with an engineered-wood core that is faced with a veneer, a construction that minimizes warping and movement and makes a door more affordable to build. Be aware that veneers are easily damaged, particularly if they're thinner than about 1/16 inch.
If you want to design your own front door, you can have a local custom shop build it for you, or you can order it from a large custom door manufacturer such as IWP or Lamson-Taylor Custom Doors. IWP lets you customize your door by choosing from a myriad of options, including many different prefinished hardwood colors.
With Lamson-Taylor, you can radically push the design envelope. "If you can't find it anywhere else, we make it," says Grant Taylor. His company utilizes a high-tech construction method that virtually eliminates bowing and splitting and incorporates insulation into the door's structure. Stiles and rails are built-up from two thicknesses of material that are laminated together. The panels are also made from split construction, but they're designed to sandwich an insulation core. The result is a wood door with an insulation value of about R-5, compared with a conventional wood door at about R-2. Other door makers who build-up panels, stiles, and rails from two or more thicknesses of material include Simpson and Pella Rolscreen.
Solid wood doors are the most expensive type. For a 3' by 6'8" six-panel pine door, you can expect to pay $600 or more; hardwoods are pricier. When you purchase a complete entry system, the cost can easily run from $2,000 to $4,000.
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