The comparison
| Plantation shutters | Blinds | |
|---|---|---|
| Cost | Priced from the area of the opening, including VAT and fitting. A living room window is roughly £600 to £700. | Typically £80 to £250 per window made to measure. |
| Lifespan | Ten to twenty years as a fixture. Guaranteed ten years against structural defects. | Commonly five to eight years before fabric, cords or mechanisms need replacing. |
| Light control | Two stage. Panel open or closed, louvres tilted anywhere in between. | One stage. Up, down, or partly down. Venetians tilt but the slats are thinner and less rigid. |
| Privacy | Excellent, including privacy with daylight, which a roller cannot do. | Good when down, none when up. |
| Blackout | Not without an integrated blackout blind behind the panels. | A blackout roller with side channels is the most effective option available. |
| Cleaning | Dust with a dry cloth every few weeks. Nothing comes down. | Fabric attracts dust and marks. Rollers usually cannot be washed. |
| Insulation | A solid second barrier that closes against a frame, which reduces draught movement. | Cellular and honeycomb blinds trap air well. Standard rollers do little. |
| Installation | Surveyed, made to your openings, fitted by our team, around nine weeks. | Days rather than weeks, and often self fitted. |
Where shutters genuinely win
The capability that no blind matches is privacy with daylight. Tilt the louvres up and light is thrown onto the ceiling while the sight line from the pavement is closed. A roller can only trade one for the other.
The second is permanence. A shutter is fitted joinery inside the reveal, so it reads as part of the window rather than as something hung in front of it. That is worth a great deal in a period room where the architecture is the point.
Where a blind is the better buy
For genuine blackout, a blackout roller with side channels beats any shutter, and we will specify one rather than pretend otherwise.
For a rental or a short stay, shutters are made for your openings and rarely fit the next house. A blind moves on with you, or costs little to leave behind.
For roof lights and lantern glazing, a shutter is simply the wrong product. Cellular skylight blinds handle heat and glare in a glazed extension far better than anything else available.
And for a window you cannot decide about, a blind buys you time. Nobody regrets a £150 decision the way they regret a £1,500 one.
This bedroom shows the two products doing what each does best in the same window: shutters at the face for the look and the daytime control, blackout blinds behind the panels for the nights.
From our projects
Shutters with integrated blackout blinds
For the bedroom where shutters alone were never going to be dark enough.
See the project
