Upscale bi-fold door hardware options

[Phillip Mitchell]

I have an interesting project for some clients, part of which is building a handful of custom interior doors. One of them is a custom 30” (2 15” panels) door. All of the hardware I have spec’d, ordered and am using in other areas is black finish.

I cannot seem to find a black finish available in bifold door hardware anywhere on the internet. Johnson is a very popular choice for more low-medium end bifold hardware, but no black.

Sugatsune, which has been one of my go-to’s in the past for oddball hardware solutions certainly has something but I can’t seem to locate what it is I’m looking for on their website and doesn’t always make it intuitive to find exactly what you want.

I have yet to jump into the Hafele rabbit hole as they catalog is so extensive as to be completely overwhelming but will if I come up empty otherwise.

It doesn’t even need to be that high end, but I’m just looking for a black track and black leaf hinges. For a 30” overall width bifold. Obviously I can cut down the track and drill holes and modify a longer track if necessary.

I would prefer to avoid painting otherwise silver/brass hardware black and prefer to find an option that is factory painted black.

Wondering if anyone else here has any advice that could help or save me some trouble if scouring all spider corners of the internet.

Thanks in advance.

[Joe Calhoon]

The Hafele Hawa brand is my go to for interior bifold sand pocket doors. Very smooth running. Don’t recall if available in black.

[Tom Bender]

My experience with bifold doors puts it way on the other end from high end. They do not move well. Same with pocket doors. There may be good ones but I am off them.

[Phillip Mitchell]

Not crazy about bifolds in general, but it’s the best option spatially and functionally for this particular situation/problem. Hafele Hawa, as Joe mentioned above, is among the best hardware for folding and sliding things and does not disappoint when it comes to quality.

I have yet to find any bifold hardware in a black finish...anywhere. That seems absurd, but apparently is the way of things. I may end up painting whatever I can find to match all the other hardware selections.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I’ve installed hundreds of bifold doors and like so many, know they can be problematic.
I wonder if the hardware could be quickly stripped and chemically treated to produce a black finish. It would have to be economical of your time/overhead of course.
Maybe contact a plating company, or searching under chemical bath formulas…….

[Dave Sabo]

The Hafele Hawa brand is my go to for interior bifold sand pocket doors.

HAWA is not a Hafele brand, it’s an independent Swiss company - and available from a few different sources. Their own U.S. offices are in the tony Dallas neighborhood of Turtle Creek.

Some of the pieces of their Concepta line are available in black anodized.

My experience with bifold doors puts it way on the other end from high end. They do not move well. Same with pocket doors. There may be good ones but I am off them.

You just need to venture outside your normal supply channels. Lots of high quality smooth operation door systems are available. Most are from Europe.

I wonder if the hardware could be quickly stripped and chemically treated to produce a black finish. It would have to be economical of your time/overhead of course.

Sure the color can be changed - but at this point it will be neither fast, nor economical.