I don't see any problems with using a fan to increase air circulation. Is it an oscillating fan that moves side to side, or a stationary fan that blows air in one direction? It wouldn't have to be on full force or anything, just enough to keep the air moving. It's only with artificially heated/cooled air coming from our central heat & air vents that could cause problems. One suggestion I would make is to use these white self-watering Plant Spa⢠pots. They're available at any Wal-Mart, and are fairly cheap. The white color will help keep the pots from overheating, and the self-watering reservoir will keep your plants from drying out. I absolutely love these pots and use them for almost all of my plants. Even though they hold water, only the bottom "X" of the pot actually sits in that water. The "X" is surrounded by ventilation slits, allowing the pot to breathe in fresh air.

Just my 2 cents....I love the Casa Vieja Outlook in Brushed Nickel ceiling fan. I am putting it on my list too. My only concern is total kitchen lighting. In order not to hi-jack Bellajourney's thread I am starting another one. Would appreciate any thoughts on lighting. Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen lighting along with a ceiling fan

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!

Super helpful conversation everyone! We're deciding between centered and off-center for a slightly different reason... we're off grid and the room in question has some large passive solar gain windows and also that's the part of the room with the highest ceiling area. Our primary use for the ceiling fan is to circulate that heated air back down into the living space in winter. We're not going to have much if any use for summer cooling (I'm writing this on April 27 and just yesterday they were enforcing snow chains on the main road to our place!) I also don't like the sensation of air blown at me by a ceiling fan because it dries out my contact lenses. So the whole purpose of the ceiling fan, really, is just for winter circulation of warm air. In that case, would people agree that we should put the ceiling fan as high up the sloped ceiling as we can and as close to the area of hot air, even though that means it won't be centered in the room? That same area will also be an "area" in terms of space layout because it's where our guests who like to be warm will likely congregate. Thanks!