Replace French Door Handles: What to Check and How To

How-to · 2 min read · Updated October 2026

Yes, you can replace French door handles, and it is usually a screwdriver job. The risk is buying a set that does not fit, because handle sets are not standardized.

Check six things before you order. The card below is worth saving to your phone.

Check before you buy a French door handle: fixing holes match the old handle, spindle size and length, door thickness supported, sprung or unsprung, left or right handed, clearance around the cylinder and seals — Compatibility checks before you buy. Source: Suffolk Latch Company, how to fit a multipoint door handle, reviewed September 2026.

Table of Contents

What has to match

Suffolk Latch Company’s guide says multipoint handles are not standardized, and matching one measurement does not make a handle compatible. Compare the fixing holes, the spindle size and length, and the door thickness the set supports.

Also check whether the set is sprung or unsprung, and whether it is left- or right-handed. Leave room around the cylinder, the frame, the seals and the lever’s movement.

If the fixing holes do not line up, stop. The same guide says not to drill near the lock without the lock and handle drawings and the door maker’s approval.

That guide is from a UK maker and covers multipoint locks. The steps below apply to most handle swaps, but your door’s instructions come first.

Lever door handle on a dark gray door — Match the handing before you buy. Photo: khairul nizam on Pexels.

Replacing the handles

Hold the door open and photograph the old handles and how they work. That picture saves you at the end.

Support the outside handle, then take out the inside fixings and loosen any grub screws. Withdraw the spindle where the design allows, and keep every part until the new set is in.

Replace a French door handle in six steps: photograph the old handles, support the outside handle and remove the inside fixings, keep every part until the new set is in, align the new pair with the existing holes, tighten evenly, test with the door open before closing — Six steps from old handle to new. Source: Suffolk Latch Company.

Fit any spring cassettes, gaskets or washers the way the maker shows. Pass the spindle through the lock and line the plates up with the existing holes without forcing them.

Start the screws by hand and tighten gradually. Do not use the screws to pull a misaligned plate into place.

Test both handles and the key with the door open, and retract any bolts before you close it. Then check that it locks and opens from both sides.

If it only resists when the door is shut, the door or the keep needs attention, not the handle. Persistent resistance means calling a pro.

My call · George Anderson

I would photograph everything before taking anything off, and buy the replacement only after the old set is in my hand. Matching a pictured handle to a pictured handle is how the wrong set gets ordered.