Best Wood for Interior Doors

Wood remains a highly popular choice for interior doors in Australian homes, but it’s important to choose the right materials and the best craftsmanship.

There are many different types of wood that can be used for interior doors, each with their own characteristics and properties.

You will want to consider your design aesthetic, the functionality and durability of your doors, insulation performance, and affordability.

Here you will learn about the benefits of choosing wood for interior doors, the various different types of wood doors, and our recommendation for the best wood for interior doors.

Our goal is to help you to make the best choice for your home, in terms of both style and longevity.

Why Choose Wood for Interior Doors?

• Unique Character

Many homeowners choose wood for their interior doors because they love the natural quality, warmth and individuality of timber doors. Each type of wood has a unique pattern of knots and grain, and a distinctive texture. Wood doors can infuse an interior décor scheme with a certain charm and character, and make for a beautiful design feature in their own right.

• Versatile in Style

Wood is an easy material to work with and offers a huge range of styles, designs, configurations and finishes. From traditional panelled doors to sleek, contemporary lines, wood doors work in any style of home. They are easy to paint in the colour of your choice, or you can stain them to bring out the natural woodgrain.

• Resilient & Durable

Wood doors, and particularly those crafted from a strong hardwood such as Pacific Ash, are highly resistant to scratches, dents and everyday wear and tear. This is essential for interior doors in a family home, and keeps them looking their best for many years.

• Insulation Performance

The dense core of wood doors gives them excellent insulation qualities. For interior doors, this helps to keep your living areas separate, peaceful and comfortable when your doors are closed – absorbing sound and making it easier to regulate the temperature of your rooms. Learn more about how to insulate wood doors.

• Built-in Longevity

Wood interior doors are built to last, making them a solid investment in your home. They may be more expensive than hollow-core doors up front, but quality wood doors will stand the test of time, avoiding the cost and inconvenience of a premature replacement.

• Easy to Install

Most professionals will be experienced in installing wood interior doors – whether hinged, sliding or folding – and will also be able to repair or replace the wooden framework around the door if necessary. Find out more about how to install wood doors.

What Types of Wood Are Good for Interior Doors?

So wood is a good choice for your interior doors, but exactly what wood are doors made of?

Here we will take a look at some of the most common types of wood for interior doors, and how they stack up against each other.

• Pacific Ash – A strong and robust hardwood, we believe Pacific Ash timber to be the best wood for interior doors in Australian homes. It’s a popular choice for its rich, earthy character and its elegant woodgrain. This is the timber we use for our interior doors at Doors Plus because it has beautiful aesthetic qualities as well as the resilience to weather the highs and lows of the Australian climate. All of our timber is quarter sawn, which makes these doors even more stable and less likely to bend or warp over time, and a Pacific Ash core delivers excellent sound and thermal insulation between rooms. Our doors can be re-sanded as required, to keep them in optimum condition, and can either be stained or painted.

• Oak – Oak has long been one of the most popular materials for doors and furniture as it is easy to work with, creating simple or decorative mouldings, with an elegant natural grain and a pleasing colour. Like Pacific Ash, oak is dense, durable and strong.

• Pine – A softwood, pine is pliable to work with but less dense and robust than some other wood types. Many people enjoy the light colour and rustic aesthetic of pine, and it can be painted or stained for a more uniform finish, but it doesn’t promise as much durability and longevity as a hardwood.

• Walnut – Rich in colour, this dense hardwood gives off an aura of luxury and decadence, but this is reflected in the price you pay. Walnut tends to be used for fine, feature pieces rather than interior doors throughout the home.

• Alder – Ranging from pale yellow to a red/brown colour, alder has a fairly uniform grain. It can also be quite a knotty wood, meaning a more rustic finish when painted or stained. Alder is one of the lightest and least dense types of wood so may not be the best wood for interior doors if you’re looking for durability and insulation.

• Cherry – With a smooth and close grain, cherry wood can be appealing to look at but doesn’t offer as much distinctive character as some other wood types. It has a rich colour that tends to darken over time, with exposure to sunlight.

• Maple – A dense and strong hardwood, maple tends to be fairly durable and high performing. It has a fine and uniform grain, giving a smooth finish when painted or stained, so lacks some of the unique character of oak or Pacific Ash.

• Poplar – A medium-density wood, poplar is good for insulation and is a cost-effective option. Like maple, it has a less distinctive grain than some other woods. Poplar tends to be light in colour but you can get a lot of variation.
• Engineered wood – In many ways the best of both worlds, engineered wood doors consist of a composite core, coated in a thin wood veneer surface. These doors are more robust and better insulators than lightweight hollow-core doors, but less costly than solid hardwood.

What Interior Door Styles Can Be Created with Wood?

As you can see from the Doors Plus catalogue, wood offers huge potential when it comes to door styles and configurations.

Our Caulfield and Woodland ranges use Pacific Ash to create various traditional hinged or sliding doors, with multiple panels of classic moulding.

Timber can be combined with clear, translucent or decorative glass for a more uplifting, stylistic or contemporary look.

Our Mascot French doors feature timber frames with glass panes, while the Hamptons collection exemplifies the chic and carefree luxury of this contemporary home aesthetic.

Our Ashfield range is an excellent example of bi-fold wood doors, to save space or for added flexibility.

Our Engineered Pacific Ash doors are especially showcased in the Glengary range, where wood is used to craft stunning feature barn doors for any room in the house.

Find out more about the most popular wooden door designs for homes in Australia.

When it comes to the best finish for interior wood doors, you have the choice of either a light or dark maple stain to bring out the natural character and charm of the timber, or painting your doors in the colour of your choice.

We also offer a wide range of wood doors sizes, including custom made doors.

What Can An Expert Tell Me About Choosing The Best Interior Door Wood

When you visit your nearest Doors Plus showroom, our friendly experts can give you more information about the best wood for interior doors, as well as the relative cost of wood doors. We can give advice about the best oil for interior wood doors, to care for your doors over time, and the best clear finish for interior wood doors if you want to maximise the natural charm of the timber.

Best of all, you can discover our extensive collection of wood doors in person and find out why we believe Pacific Ash timber is the best type of wood for interior doors.