We have a Matthews Fan Company Vent-Bettina in our kitchen (mounted between the kitchen and LR--formerly our DR). Ours is the teak blade option, rather than the metal blades with "cage" version (available both ways), but I would imagine they function the same way. One big difference, obviously, is how it looks. We liked it's "funky" and slightly different look--the perfect bit of "bling" for our kitchen reno! Other difference, is how it moves the air. Typical ceiling fan moves in one plane, so the air is circulated either upward or downward in a horizantal, circular motion. With the gyroscopic fans, the fan blades are moving in a vertical plane. while the fan's "body" is rotating horizontally (clockwise), *Note, the fan blades/heads are motorized, while the body is not. The motion of the blades, head position/angle drive the fan's "body" rotation. The air is being moved by the spinning fan blades, and is circulated throughout the space by the rotation of the entire unit. The end result is pretty much the same with both types of fans (air is being moved!), though in our application, this type of fan has the added benefit of visually "serving" both rooms. I would say it might have a bit of an edge (over a conventional fan) cooling our two adjacent spaces because of its design. We did not set up our old fan in the kitchen post-reno (after opening up the wall between the two rooms), so I don't have a true comparison. Here is a link that might be useful: Matthews Fan Co. This post was edited by cat_mom on Sun, Jul 13, 14 at 12:04

Wow, overwhelming "yes" on the white! Thank you everyone! I decided to go for it and painted them this afternoon. I used Krylon spray paint and I really should have put primer on them first. I lost count of how many coats of paint I sprayed on them. I think it looks so much better now. What do ya'll think?? barb5, the pull chains do have faceted crystal balls on them. There's also a prism hanging from each arm on the light fixture. Here's a close-up photo showing them. I'm surprised that many of you said keep the wood on the island! When we decided to put an island in, I couldn't get a top to match my countertops because I've had them ever since dinosaurs roamed. LOL! The wood was just a desperate measure to have a top for the island. I've always thought I should have all the counters the same, but maybe I need to rethink that.

I detest white ceiling fans and unfortunately I have many in this house. I have been changing them out regularly. I changed out 5 during the flood redo. There are white in all 4 bedrooms, I most definitely will be changing the master bedroom one. Actually since we like that fan my husband bought spray paint and is going to take it apart and paint it. I would definitely go with a darker color either the black or a very dark oil rubbed bronze. The white always look dirty too.

That's too much metallic anything : ) Best in small doses, like the ceiling..here in a powder room. Only the ceiling / crown molding masters,