How to Choose a Front Door Handleset, Starting With the Lock Inside the Door

To choose a front door handleset, start with the lock the door is built around, not the grip in the photo. First confirm whether the door locks at a single point, with a latch and a deadbolt, or uses a multipoint lock. Then confirm whether it is bored for tubular hardware or cut for a mortise lock. Only after that pick the grip, the finish and the keyed function. The one situation that reverses the order is a new door that has not been prepped yet: there you can fall for the handleset first and have the door prepped to suit it.

A handleset is a latch and a deadbolt sharing one grip

Outside, a handleset is a fixed grip with a thumb latch at the top and a keyed deadbolt above it. Pressing the thumb latch pulls back the spring latch; the key throws the deadbolt. Inside, the same set has a knob or lever for the latch and a thumb turn for the deadbolt, unless it is double cylinder, which comes up below. On a tubular set those are two mechanisms in two bored holes. On a mortise set both live in one case set into the door's edge, and the trim on each side bolts through to it.

The grip itself never moves. That matters for anyone with sore hands, because the thumb latch has to be pressed while you hold the grip, and some people find that harder than a lever. If that describes your household, an exterior lever set swaps the grip and thumb latch for a handle that only needs a push down. Choosing exterior lever hardware does not automatically include a separate deadbolt, so check what the package contains and order a compatible deadbolt if you need one.

Find out whether your door locks at one point or several

The guides ranking for this question skip this check, and it decides more than anything else on the list. Some entry doors are built with a multipoint lock: a long lock body in the edge of the door that throws bolts or hooks at more than one height. Look at the edge. If one faceplate runs a long way up and down the door with bolts above and below the handle, it is multipoint.

A multipoint door does not take an ordinary handleset. It takes trim made to match that lock body. Emtek's multipoint trim, for example, is sold as trim only, without the lock box, and Emtek asks you to identify the door and lock manufacturer, measure the center-to-center spacing between the lever and the cylinder, note whether the lever sits above or below the cylinder, and confirm the cylinder type (American or Euro profile). That trim needs at least a 2-3/8 in (60 mm) backset, and Emtek notes that some retrofitting may be necessary. The minimum belongs to that trim, not to multipoint locks in general, so match the complete trim configuration to your actual lock. Rocky Mountain Hardware likewise asks for the center-to-center measurement to be verified before its multipoint entry set can be ordered. Buying a standard handleset for a multipoint door is the costliest mistake on this page, because it is not made to work with the lock that is already there.

Sectional or one long plate, decided by the holes you have

On a single-point door, the next question is the style of trim: sectional, with a separate small escutcheon at each end of the grip and around the deadbolt, or a single long plate that carries all of it. The look is part of it, but the holes usually decide.

Tubular handlesets mount in 2-1/8 in bores through the door face, and the spacing between the latch bore and the deadbolt bore is commonly 5-1/2 in center to center. A one-piece plate is built for one spacing. If your door was drilled to something else, a sectional set may accommodate it, but only within that product's requirements. Check the minimum clearance between the pieces and where the lower grip's mounting holes fall; sectional does not automatically mean it fits. A plate earns its place in the opposite case: when you are replacing hardware that left marks or extra holes, a full-length plate covers more of the door than three small roses can.

The grip also fastens through the door at its ends, and the position of those holes comes from the maker's template, so print or request the template before anyone drills. For a mortise door, backset and door thickness are only the start; Emtek gives 2-1/2 in or 2-3/4 in for its mortise handlesets, which tells you whether a set is a candidate, not whether it fits. The plate or roses have to suit the case already in the pocket, so identify the lock model and confirm the case dimensions, the spindle and cylinder positions, how the trim mounts and the strike against the manufacturer's drawings before you order.

Grip length is a question of proportion, and the stile sets the limit

A grip is sized against the whole door, and also against your hand: comfortable clearance between the grip and the door, and easy thumb-latch operation, matter alongside appearance. A tall door, 8 ft rather than the common 6 ft 8 in, can carry a longer grip and plate without it looking stretched, and a long plate can work on a standard-height door too. Door height is a proportion consideration, not a restriction. There is no fixed ratio to follow, so judge proportion against your actual door and the trim around it.

The stile is the hard limit, and the manufacturer's preparation template is how you check it. Total width alone does not tell you the hardware fits around glass or molding, so lay the template against the door before you decide. On a door with glass, measure from the lock edge of the door to the edge of the glass or the molding around it. The plate, or the widest escutcheon on a sectional set, has to sit inside that strip of solid door, with a margin, and the backset has to put the hardware where the strip can hold it. A narrow-stile glass door can rule out the wide plates before style enters the conversation, and I would let that strip of wood narrow the list before any catalog does.

Then check projection, how far the grip stands off the face of the door. If you have a storm door, measure the gap between it and the entry door with both closed. Emtek lists projection for its handlesets, and a grip or thumb latch that projects past that gap will stop the storm door from closing.

Keyed functions: who locks what, and from which side

• Single cylinder keyed. Key outside, thumb turn inside. The default for a front door.
• Double cylinder keyed. Key on both sides, no thumb turn. Often asked for on doors with glass near the lock, and restricted by many residential codes on doors used to exit. Check your local code before ordering one.
• Dummy. A fixed grip with no latch, for the fixed leaf of a double door so both leaves match. Emtek's dummy still needs a bore hole.
• Interconnect. An Emtek option on single cylinder sets: turning the inside knob or lever retracts the deadbolt and the latch together, so leaving takes one motion. It is not available with double cylinder sets, and retailers note it has to be ordered with the handleset.

I would decide the function before the finish. It changes which sets are available, and the interconnect in particular has to be ordered with the set.

Outside, the finish has to suit the weather the door gets

A front door handleset lives in sun, rain and, in some places, salt air, and the interior knob or lever does not. How any finish holds up outdoors comes down to the manufacturer and the particular finish, so read the manufacturer's notes on exterior and coastal use and its care instructions before you choose, not after.

I would settle one question before looking at colors: do you want a finish that changes? Rocky Mountain Hardware describes its bronze as a living finish: it lightens where hands touch it, darkens where they do not, and outdoors can take on a turquoise tone. On a handleset the grip and the thumb latch take nearly all the handling, so those are the parts that will move first. If that sounds like character to you, a living bronze suits a front door well. If the door should look unchanged years from now, ask for a finish intended to keep its color, and confirm how it behaves on an exposed door with the maker.

The order form, line by line

• Lock system: single point or multipoint, and for multipoint the door and lock manufacturer.
• Prep: tubular bores and their center-to-center spacing, or a mortise pocket with its backset, lock model and case dimensions.
• Door thickness: measured on the edge, not assumed.
• Handing: stand outside and record the hinge side and the swing direction. Emtek needs it on tubular sets with an inside lever and on mortise sets.
• Function: single cylinder, double cylinder, dummy, whether you want interconnect, and whether the package includes a deadbolt.
• Inside trim: knob or lever.
• Fit checks: stile width beside any glass, and projection against the storm door.

With those lines filled in, the shortlist of entry door sets that will actually fit your door is short, and choosing among them comes down to taste. If the look you want is a plain grip and thumb latch without a separate plate style, browse the thumb latch entry sets, and for living bronze, Rocky Mountain Hardware is where to start.