Glendale 85302
Garden Windows
A garden window is a small glass box that sticks out from your wall, most often over the kitchen sink. It gives herbs and plants a bright shelf and makes a small room feel bigger. Read on to see how garden windows handle Phoenix sun, or request a free, no-pressure estimate.
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What Is a Garden Window?
A garden window is a small box bay window. It projects out from the outside wall, with glass on the front, both sides and the top. From inside, it looks like a deep, bright shelf set into the wall.Most garden windows go over a kitchen sink, in place of a flat window. They also work in bathrooms. The glass top brings in light from above, so the box stays bright even when the sun isn’t on the front.
A garden window is a smaller cousin of the bay or bow window. A bay window is larger, with angled sides. A garden window is a square box built to hold plants.
Garden Window Options
- Venting sides. The side panes can be fixed glass or vents that open, so you can let hot air out or catch a breeze on a mild day.
- A removable shelf. The shelf gives you two levels for small pots. Take it out when your plants grow taller.
- Sizes. Garden windows can be built as small as 2 feet wide by 2 feet tall and as large as 6 feet wide by 5 feet tall.
- Colors. White or tan vinyl frames.
- Glass. Dual-pane Low-E glass. Our glass types guide explains how Low-E coatings differ.
How We Install a Garden Window in a Stucco Home
A garden window sticks out from the wall, so it’s always fastened through the outside. In a wood-frame stucco home, it goes in with a nail fin. That’s a flat flange around the frame that fastens to the wall framing. Here’s how it works:- We cut back the stucco all the way around the opening.
- We set the nail fin against the framing and fasten it.
- We flash the opening. Flashing is a waterproof layer that sends water away from the wall.
- The stucco is rebuilt around the window.
Garden Windows We've Installed
Shelves, Watering and Cleaning
- Shelf. Lift the shelf out to wipe it down or to make room for taller plants.
- Watering. Put saucers under your pots. Water left standing on the sill can stain it and leave mineral spots.
- Inside glass. Cleans like any window once the plants are moved.
- Outside glass. This takes the most work. Dust settles on the glass top after every dust storm, and sprinklers leave hard-water spots. A hose and a soft brush or a squeegee on a pole reaches most garden windows from the ground. Keep bushes trimmed so you can get to it.
Is a Garden Window Right for Your Home?
A garden window is about light, plants and a little extra room. It’s not the pick for the lowest energy bill. It has much more glass than a flat window in the same opening, with outside heat on every side and the top. If saving energy is your main goal, a flat window set flush with the wall will always do better.
It also costs considerably more than a flat picture window of the same size. And it changes the outside of your home, since the box sticks out from the wall. If you have an HOA, plan on asking first. We help with HOA requirements and applications.
Other ways to brighten a kitchen: a large picture window for the most glass, a pass-through window to the patio, or a gas strut awning window that opens wide over an outdoor counter.
It also costs considerably more than a flat picture window of the same size. And it changes the outside of your home, since the box sticks out from the wall. If you have an HOA, plan on asking first. We help with HOA requirements and applications.
Other ways to brighten a kitchen: a large picture window for the most glass, a pass-through window to the patio, or a gas strut awning window that opens wide over an outdoor counter.
Garden Window Questions
Common questions about garden windows in Phoenix homes.
Other Window Styles to Compare
Thinking about a kitchen or bathroom window? Click a style to learn more.
