Yea. We built a French country plan, but did a very sleek modern interior. We found fans for our great room and master bedroom that were done in a silver with a halogen light kit. They blend seemlessly with the decor and they do move a lot of air. If you're going to have a 2-story family room, I would definitely recommend at least 1 fan because the air up there is going to get warm and stale -- at least you can move it around with the fans.

Casablanca makes very nice fans. I wouldn't go with what is "in", go with what goes with your house style and decor.

I am a big Yeah. I have one in darn near every room.

I LOVE them. There are so many neat ones now. I just typed this the other day on another thread but to me they are like a piece of art or furniture on the 5th wall.

When it came time to look for lights, it was just an automatic thing for me.

I am also a big 'fan' - pun intended!

In our warm climate they can either supplement or substitute for the A/C, depending on the season. Used only when we occupy the rooms they save energy.
Our style is British Colonial/plantation and we have some gorgeous fans that enhance that look.

Apart from the dining room and kitchen we have them in every room. None of them have lights.

You don't mention where you are - but keep these tips in mind.

HVAC will cool/heat the building. Fans cool people.

A fan circulates air and if there is no-one there to feel the air movement- turn the fan off.

Keeping that in mind - for those 2 floor rooms you will need fairly long down rods to be worthwhile - especially in the summer. The last thing you want to do is push the hot air down on the occupants. If the HVAC is designed well then in all likely-hood air will be allowed to remain 'somewhat stagnant' there. The comfort zone where you live is where the air needs to stay comfortable. Turn of the century houses had tall ceilings for just this purpose. To let the hot air rise above the occupied space/comfort zone.

Having said that - if you will keep the thermostat 2-3 degrees warmer with the fans (in a room with 8-9' ceilings) because the air movement enhances the 'cool' feeling, then you can save some $$ by having them. If you will keep the thermostat at the same setpoint, then they are not providing any savings.
hope this helps,
Andy

There are soooo many cool designs for fans these days, you should definitely get out and take a look. Here's a few that I chose. For some reason, for me, they each bring to mind a city/region with their look which is part of what I love about them.

This one a Fanimation in our great room. The center portion is mosaic glass. It moves a ton of air, the most of any fan I've ever had. The Venetian-style glass always puts me in mind of a retro-Venice-meets-21st century feel.

Here's one from the den. The fittings look like oil-rubbed bronze and the center section is hammered metal. You can't see it very well in the photo but there are couple of the ORB circular medallion things on the blade with chinese characters giving it an Asian-inspired look overall. I could imagine the main character from Noble House having this in his home. This is a Fanimation as well.

Here's one from my home office. It has a more contemporary, sophisticated look to me that says modern New York. Sadly, it moves very little air (probably due to the skinny blades) but I like the look.

we put some decent looking simple fans in our new build. We don't love the look of them, but because we live in a temperate climate here in socal it's stupid to not take advantage of cool air already available. We use our ac a couple days a year and rarely use the heater so fans are an obvious choice. Some can look pretty decent though, my thoughts are generally to avoid fans with lights on them, it makes them look cheesy.

I too am a fan of ceiling fans.

We live in central Texas where it is hot enough to need to run the AC about 9 months out of the year. Ceiling fans make a huge difference in our electric bills. Twenty some years ago we found Hunter ceiling fans on sale for some ridiculously low price (like $15 each) at a homebuilding center that was going out of business. We bought and installed eight of them (each bedroom, kitchen, dining area, living room, and office) and noticed an immediate drop in our electric bills. I would say that those fans probably paid for themselves within a year.

In the new house we're again putting ceiling in every major room AND putting outdoor ceiling fans on the wraparound porch and the screened porch. (Twelve in all, this time.)

I love old fashioned decor tho so a nice antique brass or ORB fan with dark wood blades fits right in. And, I like having lights on them - both for the looks and because having lights on the fans helps you to remember to turn them on/off so you only use them when you're in the room. I also prefer the older four-bladed fan to the newer five bladed ones. Four blades are actually more energy efficient than five so I don't know WHY the industry shifted over. Since five blades are now the standard, the four blade ones can only be had for a premium price so I've given in and purchased 5 bladed models. But they are still in a classic design.

IMHO, its the modern ones that look like airplane propellors or other high-tech gadgets that look cheesy. But that is all a matter of taste.

Honestly though, if you REALLY don't like the look of ceiling fans, then don't install them! It is YOUR house! While fans save energy if used properly, it probably isn't enough to make even the "greenest" homebuilder feel guilty about leaving them out. And, it is not that difficult to retrofit fans if you should sell the house and the buyer wants them. So leaving them out shouldn't affect your resale value. I say, get the look YOU WANT and who really cares what the rest of us like or don't like.

I will put a lot of fans in my new house, just 'cause I'm always hot! and we live on the coast of NC, where it's fairly warm. The kitchen is where I'm particularly going to want one this time around...

If you are designing a home for yourself I don't know why you would be interested in the current "trend" especially as seen in magazines. Electric ceiling fans have been in constant use in homes since electricity has been available.

Personally, I do not like air blowing on my head so I would turn the blades up. For me, lights in the center of a room tend to make the room feel smaller and the walls dimmer unless there is a task below it that needs strong light.

A ceiling fan can also limit the placement of recessed ceiling lights as well.

Placing a ceiling fan over dining and food prep surfaces makes me want to cover the food when the fan gets turned on unless the blades have been recently cleaned (if they are, in fact, ever cleaned).

Here is a link that might be useful: fancy fans

I'm in South Texas and fans are a must to complement the A/C. During the day we can have the thermostat set one or two degrees higher (summer) and at night we get a constant cooling effect, instead of a cold/hot cycle with A/C only. My experience with porch fans hasn't been so hot (pun). I have four outdoor rated fans and in this humid, semi-arid climate two fans have had to be replaced (under warranty) because the main bearing corroded.