There should not be a grease problem with proper ventilation. What do you have planned?

I had a ceiling fan in my kitchen prior to the remodel and was happy to have it because the ventilation was awful and any air circulating was welcome. I added two new windows in the new kitchen and got rid of the ceiling fan and like it much, much better. You have a nice tall ceiling, though, so a ceiling fan might be nice. If you have an adequate range hood, you shouldn't have a problem with grease. Even in my old kitchen, the fan wasn't greasy.

We replaced our fan with a new fan. It provides the light over the small table. We also got a nice vent hood, so I'm not worried at all.

I like to be able to move the air around when it's hot in the kitchen, or nice outside. The fan is in front of the slider to the patio.

I'm definitely in the ceiling fan camp. Ceiling fans are what holds us over between heating and cooling season and keeps the a/c higher in the summer. A lot depends upon your climate and use.

It's about personal preference. Some would never put a ceiling fan anywhere. Others like them everywhere. Personally, I only like them in the bedroom and on porches. Aesthetically I would not want one in the kitchen.

Love ours!!

We use it quite often when it's warm, but not hot enough to require a/c.

I am in the no fan camp. I find them to be too big. Just not my cup of tea but know others really like them.

Be aware that, to many people, they are outre.

That said, they often are highly functional, as others have pointed out.

Nothing in your kitchen, ceiling fan included, should have a greasy residue. If it does, you have bigger issues; range ventilation and fire hazards.

I would recommend if you want to use one, get a very simple and discreet one and not one with any kind of lights (sorry, those look really bad). Your light can come from tophats or cans. Anyway, chose a simple motor in nickel and paint the blades to match your ceiling, helping it disappear.

Nay,

99% of the time Fugly.

I would recommend if you want to use one, get a very simple and discreet one and not one with any kind of lights (sorry, those look really bad AKA FUGLY). Your light can come from tophats or cans. Anyway, chose a simple motor in nickel and paint the blades to match your ceiling, helping it disappear.

Following mtnrdedux's advice would upgrade you to just plain ugly.

The kitchen will have lots of ventilation, with windows on two walls. We're in upstate SC, with typically long spring and fall seasons, so there will be lots of days with the windows open. That doesn't necessarily mean a breeze, though, as we are deep in the woods.

The ceiling will probably be tin panels, possibly coffered as well. Other lighting will come from LED cans. I'd like some kind of pendant lighting, but it would be in the place of a fan, not both. If I use a fan, it would have a light.

Aesthetically, we like ceiling fans. We have a large reproduction Hunter for one room, and an original 1906 Westinghouse, which I am thinking of having rebuilt for safety. Both of those fans would be too big for the kitchen, though. The kitchen will be mostly white (I know, I know, but we have always had white kitchens)

The kitchen hood should be more than adequate. I'm going to buy a decent unit and build a custom hood around it. Our current kitchen has a dropped ceiling (why do they do that?) and a very weak cheap hood. We don't do a lot of frying, but we also don't tend to use the fan unless we generate smoke one way or the other. In a previous house, we did have a ceiling fan, but the vent fan was a tiny wall unit, and my wife recalls the ceiling fan getting greasy.

When you say you don't intend to use the fan unless you generate smoke one way or the other, do you mean the ceiling fan or your exhaust fan?

I use our exhaust fan every time I cook on the range top and when I open the oven door. This draws any steam, smoke, grease, whatever out of the kitchen.

If you use your exhaust fan correctly your kitchen would never be filled with smoke even when you are burning something.

We have a ceiling fan in our new kitchen and we use it to be comfortable summer and winter.

I have posted pics of our ceiling fan here before, but here it is again:

Proof that form and function can play together nicely! :)

I'm in favor of fans ... it will make it more comfortable for the cook on a nice, but calm day.

Cat mom that's a great fan! Can you share the brand? Looks great in your kitchen.
If you find the right one for the space it can look great.

Thanks ppbenn!

It was a splurge, but we both fell in love with it, and knew it would be perfect in our kitchen. It's from Matthews Fan Company, and the style is the Vent-Bettina (in the polished chrome finish with mahogany blades).

The company was great to work with--very helpful during the ordering process though we ordered the fan from a local lighting store/dealer (they sent metal finish swatches so could choose the finish), as well as after, guiding DH through installation and some adjustments.

We use it on those "nice but calm days" (and nights) as lazygardens put it, and it does a good job keeping the kitchen, and the cook (me!) comfortable!!!

Here is a link that might be useful: Matthews Fan Company

I love that fan in your kitchen. It looks great!
I'm a big fan of fans- LOL

All this discussion, did I miss where someone mentioned climate? It is a factor. For instance, here in the South ceiling fans are never outre, except perhaps among a subset who keep their houses sealed up and the HVAC running practically 24/7/52. For most of us, they perform a very important function and thus are very appropriate.

Flgargoyle, I'm in Georgia and have a fan over my island, 9' ceiling. It's not at all hard to keep clean, and it takes some while before it needs me to climb on the counter with paper towels and spray cleaner.

Note that this is the first time it's occurred to me to wonder what the bacteria count up there in between cleanings might be, but I won't be taking a swab to have it tested, or of the ceiling for that matter, because if it came to it I'd absolutely choose cooking with open windows, breezes, birdsong and an occasional Imodium to the alternative. Especially since we don't seem to have a problem.

The biggest problem I am aware of with it is that it'll blow my onion and garlic skins all over the kitchen if I start chopping with it on high.

I clean mine whenever I bring the 6 ft ladder up from the garage to clean the glassware on top our cabinets (every few months or so? Visible dust on "shoulders" of the glass bottles are my cue that I need to get up there to clean!).

If I clean the fan (and glassware) at least 2-3X/yr, it's not very dirty, and is a fairly quick and easy job.

I did mention that I'm in upstate SC, so we get a mix of weather. Here in FL, our ceiling fans run all summer long except the kitchen with it's idiotic 7' ceiling. We're the opposite of the HVAC 24/7 crowd.

I meant the vent hood when I said we didn't use it often. I don't know; we just don't think of it unless we know we're doing something that really needs it. Maybe a little re-training is in order on the use of the exhaust fan.

I vote yes on the fan. It just takes a lot of work to find one that fits your architecture.

Definitely coffered on the tin ceiling. The difference is amazing, but a bit more finicky to install.

Flgargoyle, I was providing another viewpoint for some of the responses s your question sparked. I'm in Piedmont, GA. Saying a fan here would be just too ugly would be like saying you wouldn't have an unsightly coffeemaker in your kitchen. Our fan's far, far better looking than our Bunn for sure.

We're others who like to "cheat the HVAC" and save real money with open doors and windows and fans. Getting hot literally makes me ill because of an autoimmune disorder, but with the fans going, like you, I'm perfectly comfortable without AC until the temp tops 80, and it would be significantly higher still in a drier climate.

BTW, we also have a low-ceiling place in Florida, only turn the vent on when we have to (windows open), installed white cabinets in Georgia, and built our own custom hood around a unit we purchased separately. :)

If you have a good vent hood, I would say no to the ceiling fan.
I have fans throughout my house, but not in the kitchen - I wouldn't want to interfere with the hood, which (like debrak2008) draws hot air, steam, grease, gas fumes, smoke, smells, etc from the entire kitchen (hood being in the center of the kitchen). I turn it on anytime the range is on (cooktop or oven) and often when the wall oven directly across is on.
It is a huge help. We really can't smell what we're cooking in the house, but folks walking up our driveway to the front door sure can! (vents out the roof towards the front of the house) It's pretty funny.

Here is South Carolina, you seldom see houses without ceiling fans. We have fans is every room except dining room, bathrooms and foyers.

If you buy a nice one that fits the home, there is nothing unsightly about it (in my opinion).

I couldn't live without ceiling fans and have them in every room except the bathrooms. I'd have them there too if I could find one small enough. Moving air is the only way I can take the heat and humidity, even in the house.

Our kitchen fan is down right now because of construction and I miss it in the afternoon when I'm trying to cook in a kitchen that faces west.

There are fans now that are less fan-looking, and I'm considering this one for my kitchen and breakfast room. I need to find out how hard it is to clean first.

Marti8a, I have this fan. i jut installed it about a month ago. I love it but it does not give off a lot of light. It's more of a mood lighting which is okay for me in my eat in kitchen as I have other light sources. I haven't yet cleaned mine though.

Love your fan cat mom! And marti8a, I just say this fan the other day and liked it, too. Just yesterday, I was wishing for a fan just to circulate the great breeze blowing of the water. Never had one in the kitchen, but with all the great styles, why not?