Apart from the doors giving primary access and exit to the house, we have countless doors scattered throughout the house, many of which were installed by my husband, transforming the interior of the house from a large open-concept space to one with clearly defined rooms through which one passed traditionally, using doors. When he installed all those doors over a period of time, he chose between doorknobs as pulls for the doors permitting ingress and egress, and also lever-types.

As far as aesthetics go, they come out about even. As far as convenience goes in their use there isn't much difference between them. As utilitarian objects used for a defined purpose they do have their differences; lever-types are identified as being easier to use for the handicapped and the elderly. We are one but not the other, and find little difference in using one over the other.

Except that the lever-types can be a real nuisance. Because of their design, they 'catch' or hook onto things. Like loose clothing, like the electric cords of vacuum cleaners, that kind of thing. More than a nuisance, they can sometimes become dangerous, the potential source of accidents. So as far as I'm concerned, the doorknob-type mechanism affixed to doors is preferred, in my personal experience.

The Vancouver City Council has, in its great wisdom, recently effected legislation in their municipal building code making it mandatory that all new homes, apartments, commercial buildings and public buildings bypass doorknobs and use lever-type door opening-closings. Which seems intrusively absurd. It's easy to understand why their preference is for the levers when considering access for the impaired elderly or the physically handicapped. But including all residential buildings? Overkill.

If home builders prefer the traditional approach to the matter, and most home-owners are comfortable with door-knobs, why not leave well enough alone? To legislate in favour of lever mechanisms in public and commercial buildings, perhaps; the trouble is a municipal council vowing to make itself the 'greenest' city in North America has a tendency to go overboard in its mission zeal.