Ceiling Fan: white, black or not at all?

9 years ago

Would like to keep my fan as it's so functional. But I'll listen to counter arguments. Need a new something regardless.

Open concept. Kitchen leathered absolute black and white cabs with subway and ORB hardware.

Adjoining great room - where the celing fan is, has a lighter version of manchester tan - can go greyish on walls in different lights. Marble fireplace with white surround trim and ceiling. Some black distressed type furniture. Ceiling and trim is white. Furniture to be decided-- different post some day.

Do I get a white fan to just blend in? Or do I look for something ORB to go with rest of hardware/accents? Or is this a terrible no no?

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cat_mom

9 years ago

I think a fan can be a feature. Here's ours:

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Comments (16)

User
9 years ago
How tall is the ceiling?
tuxedord2
Original Author
9 years ago
9 feet
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I had a white ceiling fan in a 12x12 kitchen, with only one normal size doorway, no outside exhaust and cooking daily for a family of 5. Needless to say that ceiling fan was a weekly cleaning job. My kid tried to help once, she lost her balance, grabbed an arm that holds the blade and thank goodness she didn't fall but the arm bent. I said Oh well, one nasty blade down nothing to loose. I scrubbed that blade until all traces of dirt and grease were gone. A lot of the white paint was also gone. Still having nothing to loose I had a can of no gloss White enamel spray paint left from something else. I had 220 grit sand paper and made sure it was it was smooth then I spray painted it and it looked like new! I did the same to the others and bought a new a set of arms for $12.99 at Home Depot and put the old newly painted blades with new arms back up. For the next 6 years that we lived there, dusting the blades was easy, stuff just slid off. When they did get dingy looking. Windex and a paper towel and they would be sparkling white again.
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Thanks for the feedback. We definitely need a fan in that room but I agree fans are not a thrilling design element- but practical! Anyway, here is a pix of the family room looking in from the kitchen. The place is still torn up and the floors are unfinished, walls unpainted etc but it gives you an idea of the angle. The ceilings are not super high, I think but we do need to drop the fan a little due to the angle. this is the other direction, family room to kitchen: I see now there is a table in front of the fireplace but the fireplace is currently red brick (debating this but it matches the house outside) with a fairly large black wood burning fireplace insert in the middle. So if I DO go with a ceiling fan with wood tones would it be a big deal to use a dark brown one or should I look for a black housing with walnut blades. The floors are walnut. The fan I have now is a dark brown casing which I am wondering if its a mistake since my fireplace and door hardware are black. Here is the fan I got: And ones I am considering:
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Thanks again. I did review a number of options before posting here for review by the big guns. :) I know some people love the remotes, but personally, I prefer simplicity and control via switches. A remote is one more thing to lose and/or have "hidden" by young children! And yes, our current switches are rotary-style combo setups (two knobs per switch) that control both lights and the fan - there are two settings for lights (low or high) and three speed settings for the fan - each controlled by its respective rotary knob. I've found plenty of switches that control both fan and offer dimming for lights - but all are rated for halogens or incandescents. It's just odd, and I wonder why. I did try a "dimmable" candelabra LED in our current fan/dimmer switch setup - it flickered badly on the low setting. I think some dimmable LED bulbs are okay with newer incandescent dimmers (per happy reviews from folks like JMVD), whereas other LEDs - even those rated dimmable - are more finicky. I won't beat a dead horse. I just wondered if anyone knew of combo switches rated for LEDs that I might have overlooked, or if there was a compelling reason for why they don't seem to exist yet. Maybe we'll try a Maestro switch though, and experiment. Thanks again!
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voila
9 years ago
Definitely go with a white fan to blend in to the ceiling. A fan is not a feature in a room, but a utilitarian fixture, and not to be highlighted.
desertsteph
9 years ago
"I think a fan can be a feature."

sure can be! My sister has some beautiful ceiling fans. Mine is just a normal Lowe's fan - ORB w/dark blades and 3 globes. It's not an expensive one (but was on sale) and looks nice in my bedroom. I'll go dark when I get a fan for the LR next spring too but will spend more $s on it.

I had a white one in here (still in 4 other rooms). I don't think they blend with the ceilings. I have vaulted ceilings in my bdrm and in the LR. The other bdrms aren't.

My sister's are dark and her ceilings are 14' and painted Navaho White. They made no attempt to blend them. They are part of the rooms. All very nice looking. The one over her kitchen bar area might be metal - her appl are SS. They have 7 in the house and 1 on ea (2) patio.

I love ceiling fans - wouldn't want to be without them.
busybee3
9 years ago
I agree about the white fans not really 'blending into' the ceiling in many rooms- and in a lot of rooms a white fan would stick out like a sore thumb, even with a white ceiling... I think if you have all white trim and maybe a certain style/color of furniture, white might look nice, but I could never have a white fan in my family room... or bedroom! I think a nice looking fan that blends with the style/color of room is much more important.
bossyvossy
9 years ago
Even if a fancy fan like the lovely one posted above is not in Your budget , maybe you could spray paint the casing in silver or aluminum color, then use blades that match wood of cabinets OR color of ceiling. I painted blades the color of ceiling in one room and they became almost invisible
User
9 years ago
On a 9-foot ceiling, I'd go with white, no light on it, flush-mount. Do research, though, on the fan blades and angles, because as far as moving air well, THAT Is what matters. Get a good fan. It's worth the extra expense. a Bad fan isn't worth the lesser expense.
likewhatyoudo
9 years ago
I agree with Busybee - I did not like ceiling fans but I am now a convert. I like the one that Cat-mom has. I prefer a ceiling fan with no light they look nice and the breeze it creates is wonderful.

My home had a white ceiling fan when we bought it and when we remodeled we chose a wood blade fan with orb finish and It looks great.

BEFORE: white ceiling fan

AFTER:

This post was edited by rtwilliams on Wed, Oct 22, 14 at 10:44
cat_mom
9 years ago
Yours looks terrific rtwilliams (as does the entire room/rooms)!

Had we not seen the fan we have now, we probably would have re-used our white Casablanca "Stealth" fan in our kitchen. We moved it to the MB, and it's a good "fit" there.

The fan in our kitchen is a Matthews fan. It works very well at moving air in our kitchen and the adjoining LR.
hoovb zone 9 sunset 23
9 years ago
beautiful rooms (and fans), cat_mom and rtwilliams!
always1stepbehind
9 years ago
Google images of room with ceiling fans to get some ideas..I used to be a huge believer of "white fans to blend away with the white ceiling"...but after doing some research when I was looking for a ceiling fan, I've found that wood tone or black ceiling fans can look very nice in a room..just look at the pictures posted by the previous posters...They all look great.
desertsteph
9 years ago
you can google to find info on the size of fan to get for different room sizes - and about air movement rate. I'm sure it has a technical name for it that I don't remember.
tuxedord2
Original Author
9 years ago
We currently have fan in the space now. But it's gold hardware and slick white blades. I was considering going all white or ORB. Unfortunately I am a person that can't visualize very well ;-(
Judging from the responses, it comes back down to personal opinion. At least I can't go wrong either way ;-)
We have lower ceilings and white kitchen cabs and white trim and mantle. I'm leaning all white but am only 60-40.
chiefneil
9 years ago
I love ceiling fans as a decorative element. There's a lot of incredibly beautiful fans out there. I'm a "so many fans so few rooms" kind of guy.

Here's an ORB fan that I have in our den. It has a bit of an Asian feel with the accents. The motor housing is a darker hammered metal.

{{!gwi}}
Oakley
9 years ago
It's nice to see everyone is pro ceiling fan! I couldn't live without mine in the summer. So yes to getting one.

I would also get a wood blade fan like Rt's. I like the look of ceiling fans, especially when they contrast with the ceiling.

Also, I would get one with a light, only for task lighting. It really comes in handy when you need to turn all the lights on in the room.

Ceiling Fan: white, black or not at all?

cat_mom

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Ceiling Fan: white, black or not at all?

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