Both the Minka and the Modern Fan Company fans are very good, mayflowers. I don't think you can go wrong with either. For what it's worth, the Modern Fan Company fan is much heavier than the Minka, and our electrician said that though it seemed more substantial, it was more difficult to install.

We have ceiling fans in all of our 2nd floor bedrooms and they help all yr around. In the summer, our upstairs is hotter than our downstairs, the ceiling fans help cool it down a lot, but we recently have added stand fans in addition to the ceiling fans and Central Air. The fans are going all of the time now, which helps keep our upstairs cool. In our Mstr, I recently purchased cooling memory form pillows which help me sleep at this time in my life (50's).

I like the idea of just using the remote, and there's no worry about it getting lost since it won't leave the room.

Thank you for recommending Modern Fan Company, Sas. They do have nice fans and there was a four-blade hugger model. The ease of installation of Minka is one of its advantages so we'll go with that one.

Where did you all buy your Minka fans?

I was raised with ceiling fans in all the rooms in the houses in Louisiana. I still own some of the very old antique Hunter fans from my grandfathers plantation house. We saved them before the hurricane took the top off the house. Hunter used to make the absolute best fans. Today they still make some good ones but they also make some cheaper models that are affordable and very nice. I have some Hunter old and new in my house here. We have ceiling fans in every room including the master bath and multiple fans in the bigger rooms. In the formal living and den there are 2 in the office and sunroom there are 3 in a row, it is a very long room. Since we are doing the whole house redo from the flood we bought all new fans to replace some of the old cheap ones that came with the house. I even have ceiling fans in my rv I am living in right now. They make a huge difference here in the heat of Texas and Louisiana. Growing up in Louisiana before we had air conditioning we had the whole house attic fan. You open the windows a little in each room and turn that bad boy on and man talk about some air movement and nice cool night air. By the middle of the night you were looking for the covers. It was noisy though and it was in my bedroom so the door had to stay open for full circulation. I would put one in my house again in a minute but I have too many allergies now to keep the windows open and pull in the air that is full of allergens. Will never be with out ceiling fans. All are centered in the rooms except the rooms with double fans they are evenly spaced along the central line.

Mayflowers, the blade pitch for the Concept II is listed at 14 degrees, not 12 (from the specs on Minka Air's website).

Yup, you're right, jelly. I was going by memory but I do have it correct in my notes.

Mayflowers; I bought my MinkaAir Concept II at a "Lighting/Decorating Store" in Grand Forks.

I had seen it on line; but before I'd pay that much money I wanted to see it in person. I had gone in this store for two ceiling lights when I noticed "it!"

The display had a bronze finish. It was just as nice as the Internet descriptions and photos showed. I bought two light fixtures and they ordered the fan in the stainless/brushed nickele (?) finish from California.

The store many lovely lighting fixtures, but the staff was so rude and snooty I haven't gone back.

The fan came in a large box. The parking lot was covered with ice and banked snow. It was very (ND-style) cold. I had just had an angioplasty (sp?) the week before; they knew this because I had to call and delay picking up the fan.

While two men and a woman stared into space with frozen poses, I lugged the box through the long showroom, stopping twice to catch my breath. I struggled with the large heavy door. I had to set the box on the floor, open the door, scoot the box through with my foot, shut the door, and hoist the box up again.

I creeped along the ramp to the parking lot. I shuffled out to the car. Thankfully I had insulated snow-tread boots and parka on. I had to set the box down again to open the cargo hatch.

As I was stooping down to pick up the box again, one of the guys sauntered out of the shop and said "Let me help you."

While I did not say these exact words, he clearly understood my meaning as "Blank off and die. All three of you watched me struggle from the cash register to the car. No one offered to help; not even so little as to open the heavy door. Now you want to close the hatch for me? Dude; I got this."

I want two more light fixtures to match the ones I got there, but I will never step a foot in to that store again.

FYI - the blades are a plastic composite.

I meant to look for this site the other day and forgot. You'll find everything you need to know about ceiling fans (Hansen Wholesale FAQ) HERE

And here is the link to some updated information about the importance of (or lack of) blade pitch :o Ceiling Fan Blade Pitch
But, as with so many things that use electricity, the new information may lean more on the side of using less energy than keeping you comfy.

Caroline, sounds like they were slow to realize they should be helping you. You'd think it'd be a standard part of their customer service to help bring boxes out to your car.

There were no other customers in the store, and while I obviously managed to wrangle the awkward box out to the car, it was simply rude and very poor customer service.

I'm just blowing off steam; I get aggravated every time I think of those inept sales people - but I love the fan!

caroline94535, I have found that I ask for help. Many times, sales staff do ignore the customer struggling with carrying/moving purchased item. So, I decided, to heck with being too proud or determined to suffer to ask for help. Since that enlightenment, I have started advising that I need help with items I believe may be too difficult for me to move. Take care of yourself and be good to yourself is my motto now.

I notice that many of the fans include "plastic blades" in the description, including high-end fans like Casablanca. Is this a new thing? I kind of want white fans, but I'm concerned about how cheap looking they might be in a white finish with white plastic blades.

Good question, jelly. I want white too because I think I want it to disappear as much as possible. I'm not enamored of the look of the hugger styles.

Mayflowers, Minka does have a similar model with a small downrod ... the Concept I. I much prefer the downrod look over the hugger look, but ceiling height does limit the choices somewhat.

Hopefully someone will comment about the look of the white plastic blades ...

Mayflowers, we have the Minka Aire ceiling fan over our bed .We had to buy a longer down rod because we originally had the fan in our former house with 8 ft. ceilings . We loved the fan so much that we brought it with us to this house.

I can't really say how it would work with no air conditioning when it's just moving around hot air .

However, one thing I can say is the low setting is not very slow....still puts out a lot of wind. That's bad for us with air conditioning set cooler because it sometimes makes it too cool . Usually we can just turn up the air conditioning and it's just fine.

There are 3 settings: Low/med/high. DH said on low speed it's approximately 80 to 90 rpm's . When it's on high, it sounds like it's going to take off and blows things all over the room with 11 ft. Ceiling.

I miss 4-speed fans. They may still make them but I haven't seen any in quite awhile whereas 30 years ago it was the norm to have 4 speeds. Makes a lot of difference.

Regarding the white color, all my fans are white. The Minkas, withe the plastic blades, do not look "cheap." But the Modern Fan with its wood blades looks better. I can take pictures of both installed if anyone is interested.

Ours is rated for outdoors, so I'm guessing that may be part of the reason for plastic blades.

I would definitely say it doesn't look expensive, but it looks nicer than some. But, it fit right in with our contemporary decor at our last house and worked so well that we decided to bring it with us to this house (even though we now have more traditional decor).

I would actually love to find a more traditional fan that's attractive for our high ceiling living area. Unfortunately we have to have one with lighting because we don't have any recessed can lights. Unbelievable in a 10 year old house!

Which Modern Fan do you have, Sas?

"I can take pictures of both installed if anyone is interested."

Yes, please!

Minka Aire Concept II

Modern Fan Company Altus Hugger

Note that these are 2 different size fans. Our bedroom is significantly bigger than the guest room. They do not have lights.

Thank you, sas! Are the blades on the Minka glossy, or is that just light reflecting?

Mayflowers, if you come up with any other contenders in your search, please post them.

The Altus was the other contender! So those are wooden blades, sas?

I have to get the hugger style, jelly. The other Concept fan with the 3" downrod is 15". 12" is the limit for 8' ceilings.

We got an estimate of $345 to have a junction box installed and the fan hung. The electrician said that the Hunter fans used to be good but now they hum. DH hums a lot so I think I'll pass on those. LOL! He said that the Hampton Bay (HD?) are good fans but I don't want a traditional style. Haven't looked at their selection though.

Gee, I think my husband needs to go into the fan hangin' business! We bought a Hunter fan (our first) last Oct. It's totally silent except for the wind it creates. We've had some Hampton Bay fans. I disagree with your electrician about them being "good" fans. IMO they are not quality fans.

He's not just hanging it. He has to go into the attic and add a junction box. I expect an electrician to charge at least $100 just to walk in the door. He probably hangs a lot of Hampton Bay because most people will just drive down to HD and pick up a fan for $100.

You are right, MF ... it's 13 inches to the blades. I only look at the distance to blade measurement because I don't want a light kit. I must have gotten the Concept I mixed up with another because I thought it had an optional available 2-inch downrod which would reduce the ceiling to blade distance 1 1/2 inches. I can cross that one off my list.

$345 for an install sounds quite reasonable to me, especially since he has to go into the attic.

Jelly, are you getting the Minka hugger and are you installing the wall switch? I don't think we need the wall switch but that was part of the quote too.

My Minka came with wall switch and remote.

MF, I am hoping that I can find something suitable that isn't a "hugger". I've found a few with downrods that meet distance limits from the floor, but haven't pulled the trigger on anything yet. I'll find one I really like and then find that it doesn't come with a blank plate to use instead of a light. I really prefer no light on a fan. So I'm still looking but I'm narrowing the field! (The Casablanca Verse is a contender).

I'm pretty sure that if I have a remote that isn't attached to the wall, I will forever be looking for it. My last fans didn't even have remotes ... just a switch on the wall to turn it on and off and a chain hanging from the fan to switch speeds. At least I couldn't lose it.

I have a Hunter fan in my bedroom that is dated looking, but I am hesitant to change it out as its run for 16 years every single night with no noise or issues.

Can't sleep without it.

Have never had a remote for a fan. Last thing I want is another of those damn things lying around.

We would have to get out of bed to change the setting without the remote. Sometimes it gets to hot or cold, so you adjust the fan speed. We keep it on the bed between pillows.

You can buy Lutron fan wall switches that turn on the fan and change the speed of the fan without having to use the pull chain. We have them in the master bedrm and bathrm. There are other styles, but this is what we have.

Lutron Diva Fan Control

I live in south central Texas. We just built a new house a year ago. We do not have one single fan in our house. Fans tend to dry out my nose and eyes. There are a few times I wish I had one, such as after a long hot walk... but other than that I am happy without.

While I would do fine without a remote for other rooms, for me the remote is essential in my bedroom. The only time I switch speeds is in the middle of the night when I am too warm or cool. I would hate to get out of bed to do that. I have had the remote on my nightstand and it hasn't moved for the five years we've had the fan. Not a big issue for us.

We just hung the Minka Wave Aire with light. Comes with remote. Easy to hang ourselves and very quiet. We used the 6" download that it came with (also comes with 3").

Minka Aire has its own wall switch, sold separately. I can't see any reason to install it. I never lose anything that stays in a designated room. I still use a hairbrush that I bought in 1987! But I would want to control it without getting out of bed.

Thank you all for continuing to add your thoughts and experiences to this thread.

We don't have remotes. If I get too hot or too cold while in bed, I put on more covers or kick them off. I'm old fashion like that ;)

Lol, Monica. I kick the covers off, too, in addition to the fan remote. Usually throwing the cover over on DH who's freezing. Oh the joys of aging.

Monica, same here. On the rare occasion when I need to adjust the speed I just reach up to the pull chain over the foot of the bed.

I don't think the one we're getting has a pull chain. I'd rather have a remote than a chain though.

Our Minka Aire Concept II 44" fan was installed this week, just in time for our first serious heat wave of the summer. It was 100 degrees yesterday and 83 upstairs at bedtime, a perfect night to sleep in the guest room and try out that baby. I put it on high for about half an hour while I read. It cooled me down instantly, but I didn't want to sleep with it on high because it makes a little wind noise, but less than a table fan. I switched it to whisper-quiet medium for the night. I never felt hot once.

Thanks to all the great help on this thread, I got a great fan and a comfortable guest room for summer visitors!

Glad you're enjoying it!

I have the one you pictured in my family room, and the minkaAire Wave (pic below) on a short rod in my bedroom. It is over-sized for the bedroom, but that has translated to it doing a great job (better than the other model). I rarely use the AC.

Mine is centered over the foot of my bed.

I would probably get one like that if my ceiling was more than 8'. This one works good with my 8' ceilings and 11 x 11' room. Our hot days are usually in the low 90s, and we have very low humidity, so I don't think I'd ever need more air. It was cool enough to sleep with a sheet over me.

Mayflowers,

did you center the fan?

You don't mention if you have pets or not. If you do, a ceiling fan will stir up all the pet hair, and soon be covered with it as well. Also, if anyone has allergies, a fan will make them worse. I vote for a small window AC for the upstairs bedrooms.

Jim, yes, I did. It had to be on a joist and it worked out perfectly.

I don't have any cat hair on my ceiling fan. Dust, yes. But never cat hair.

You're lucky! I've had problems with both cat and fog hair - finally took the danged thing down!