minka aire and the modern fan company are two that come to mind. minka has traditional fans too but also modern. i just put a transitional style flush mount minka fan in our bedroom and could not be happier with it. It was soooo much easier to install and works better than cheap HD/Lowes fans - it was worth the price. I like to shop for fans at www.farreys.com although it took them 2 months to get me this fan (claimed manufacturer problem).

Hi Lisa, thanks for the tip. Two months to get your fan??? Wow. You must be very patient.

I will check around. I was asking at some of the lighting places online and they recommended Emerson, Casablanca, Hunter, Monte Carlo etc. but I figured they would recommend what they sell so I thought to ask you guys first.

Will let you know what I find.

I bought two from Modern Fan Co. and I really like them. I agree with you about fans being a necessary evil and I always counsel against making a statement with them. But, this time, I decided to go with something beyond ultra-plain vanilla, mostly because I also needed to have a light (double yuk IMO!).

The fans seem well built and they run quietly. I am even surprised and pleased to say that the quality of light from the circline fluorescent bulb is not all that bad. I called the company several times with various inquiries and found them to be pleasant and brain-on.

I don't have pics of mine (yet) but I bought the Aurora for the kitchen and the Aurora hugger for the adjacent LR. The "trunk" of the hugger is pretty bulky, but what are ya gonna do?

Here is a link that might be useful: Aurora

Emerson and Casablanca are top of the line but the styles are more traditional - even in their contemporary fans. And only some of their fans are top of the line, not all. Hunter - meh. That's the noisy one I replaced. Also not much for contemporary styling.

Make sure whatever you get has no pull chains. I've come to the conclusion that I like fans, I just don't like pull chains. The more expensive fans seem to come with far better control options.

Absolutely hate pull chains, and guess what? There is a pull chain on the old fan in my MB,lol Of course DH says it's not big deal, but I told him we are NOT having any chains on my new fan.

I don't have a distributor for Aurora fans :-( Would have loved to see one in real life. I will check online now that I know what to look for.

Thanks.

Mari

Amy, Do you have the hugger in a low ceiling room? I only realised after looking at some of the fans that I need to keep that in mind! I also want 52" blades. What size did you get? When you say bulky, how bulky? Is the light bright enough? Did you order any of the controls?

I have this Emerson one bookmarked to get. I don't usually use the light on the fan but I want one for cleaning. This one has the light at the top so you don't notice it. You can also get all the wall controls with it.

We have low ceilings and I started out looking at the hugger fans but they seemed too bulky to me so I'm just going to get the shortest rod possible so I can mount it very close to the ceiling and hope it just blends in.

You could always go ultra modern and get the Fanimation - http://www.fanimation.com/products/enigma/

Here are some suggestions on ceiling fans from a decorator:
http://www.shelterstyle.com/style_tips_ceiling_fans.php

Here is a link that might be useful: Emerson

Mariposa, all my ceilings are low! (House is LEED certified and energy efficient, yadda yadda...)

I got 42" blades. Even when I was in FL where fans were essential to survival IMO, I only had 42" blades and they still moved the air just fine. The less I have to look at, the happier I am. I think the Auroras have only three blades...even better!

I did buy the controls and IIRC they were not expensive. The Hunter controls were far more, surprisingly. Apparently you have to get a control made by the same company to ensure it functions well. I found that hard to believe, but everyone I asked in the electrical industry said it was so. (I know damn well we used Lutron controls for fans in FL...whatever...)

Amy, I thought I had to stick with the 52" blades. That's what we have now. I love your idea of the smaller blades and having less. I had wondered if 3 blades would move less air.

Dktrahan, I was kind of concerned about the bulk myself. Thanks for the link.

I love that one blade fan!

Yeah, the three blades would have to move less air. I am sure there's some physics computations we could do. But, as long as the rooms are not ultra huge, I tend to think we don't need giant fans. For me it's just about keeping the air moving and not having too much noise on those occasions when you do crank up the speed.

This is the only contemporary light fixture we have in our home. I hate the heat so we got a fan that has blades that move in different directions. Even with our high ceilings, we never have the speed set faster than low. We had to add an extension because of the height. It's a Hunter and whisper quiet.

The one blade fan actually has some reviews about it moving more air than a conventional fan. Apparently it gained it's fame in the I Robot movie (I haven't seen it).

If you have an Expo Design near you, stop in. Take a look at the fans on display, and THEN: Ask to see the catalogs. There are so many contemporary styles out there, but I've seen very few of them on display. They can special-order for you, or you can troll the web for a specific model.

I bought 2 styles from Minka. My combined LR/DR fan is the Concept (a 3-blade fan, and it moves plenty of air! In fact, if you want contemporary, and all other factors were equal, I'd go for 3 blades instead of 4), and my Guest Room fan is the Cirque fan in silver (a VERY different shape--not for everyone, but it is way cool!).

I think one of the most contemporary looks out there is Minka's Artemis fan. Gorgeous fluid curves on the blades (one model actually has clear blades--love the look, but I'm sure it'd require a lot of dusting, so forget that for me!) Compare that style against the Emerson model mentioned above, and you'll see what "contemporary" REALLY means!

I also looked at Modern Fan Co. Really loved the styles, but it was a fairly new company at the time, so I wasn't willing to take the chance. Also, the very small ceiling fan/lighting shop that I went to (in D.C., and now closed) wasn't selling them, so that made me wonder... BUT: Modern Fan is frequently advertised in Dwell magazine, which does a lot on contemporary/retro/mid-century modern, all great looks.

In the children's / guest bedrooms we have Minka Aire hugger ceiling fans and they are terrific!

In our vaulted master bedroom we have a Casablanca and I have to say, it sucks. Well, it's not the worst ever (the fan which came with the house was pretty lousy -- noisy, it wobbled and was butt-ugly), but for the incredible premium Casablanca charges I say "shame on them!" It does not work as well as the Minka Aires which were a literal fraction the cost. Stupid me!

(This is what is in everyone else's bedrooms, and this is what we have in ours.)

I'll tell you what I prefer in the Minka Aire to our Casablanca: the Minka Aires are quieter; the Minka Aires have both a hardwired wall mount and a remote control which are compatible with each other, and the Minka Aires are considerably less expensive. The Casablanca is evidently known for having problems with their remote controls / hardwire systems. (Of course I only learnt this after it'd been purchased and installed!) In fact, well, maybe things have changed, but as of last year, when you purchased a Casablanca ceiling fan you had to choose either hardwire (wall mount) or remote control -- the mechanics of the fan cannot accommodate both. So you either have remote, or you have a wall switch. You cannot have both. Additionally, Casablanca is known for its wall switches / remote controls to stop working. Just like that! Isn't that delightful? We ordered two remote controls (one for bedside, the other is velcroed (no, I am not kidding you) to the wall in lieu of a wall switch. One of them stopped being able to communicate with the fan, so after doing all the trouble-shooting we called Casablanca and to their credit, they sent a replacement right out.

But guess what? Then the other started acting wonky! And guess what else? If I use one of the remotes to turn the light on and want to use the other remote to turn the light off, I can't. The remotes cannot work together with the fan / light. I have to use the same remote to turn it on / off. Seriously, isn't that crazy? I have spoken repeatedly with Casablanca to make sure it's not that we have a crazy fan / remotes and they've told me "nope, that's the way it was designed." Why?

If I could go back in time I would get another Minka Aire in a heartbeat. At the time I thought the style of the Casablanca was what I wanted, but you know what? I couldn't care less now. I feel confident I could've found something comparable in a Minka Aire. And also, I don't even care! I just wanted something as unobtrusive as possible with a light and a high-quality fan. Sometimes I wonder what is wrong with me ....

On the bright side, we didn't have to use our a/c this past summer (and where we live it gets hot, and all our bedrooms are on the second floor) because of the ceiling fans, so we saved tons on our utility bill.

Anyway, stay away from Casablanca!

I haven't seen anybody mention Fanimation, so I'll chime in with a thumbs-up for them. I got this one at the Great Indoors. I'd describe it more as contemporary rather than modern, although they do have some very modern designs as well. It's like a globe of mosaic venetian glass to which someone decided to add fan blades.

Here's a look at another fanimation fan in the den. Again more contemporary rather than modern, actually somewhat ecelectic or transitional as the design of the brass accents has an asian feel.

Mari, you've seen mine! :-)

My definition of modern is really conservative since I'm more transitional..but I fell in love with this fan before I even got my house...I'm "ashamed" to say that I'm lame and love it so I have a few of these all over the house..kitchen and great room...then in my bedroom...oh, and office LOL....I just couldn't find ones I liked.....then I saw them using it on Color Splash and I jumped up and down LOL...It's from Home Depot (comes with dark and light blades on the sides)...I think the shape of the lights is so elegant...It's a nice smooth operation..in the bedroom, I interchanged the pulls with ones that have modern crystal prisms...very cool....It's a CHEAPO at about $125....I'm sure they still have them online....

Thanks for your opinions on fans (and especially about Casablanca), because the sales people I talked to kept pushing this one, and I almost went for it!

Cat, yours looks perfect in your place :-)

I had no idea that there was so much one had to know before buying a fan, and I am very thankful for the responses. It would be nice to find something that looks good (modern, clean) and also works well.

Moremore, a friend of mine bought the one you showed there and she's in love with it too.

Right now I am still trying to figure out whether to go with 42" or 52".

You have far more choices with a 52" it seems. Unless you go with Modern fan Co. They let you decide. Any style, any size. Gotta love that.

moremoremore ...

I looked but can't find the fan on Home Depot's online site ... do you know the name and/or the manufacturer of this fan? I like it a lot and would consider buying it to replace my older, outdated fans in my home. Thanks!

I have a very modern fan from fanimation. I needed to have something that flowed well with some art deco lighting I had purchased from Rejuvination. Everyone loves this fan, which is whisper quiet (or more so if that's possible) and moves PLENTY of air around (sitting under it on high, even if you're over 8' below it, will blow your hair about).

Here is a link that might be useful: fanimation

Which one did you get Igloo?

Tell me something, does size count (LOL) in this case? What's the difference between the amount of air a 42" blade would move compared to 52"? Are the sizes mainly to suit the size of room? I hope I haven't asked this before. I have my guy working on my ceilings as I type. We've managed to remove popcorn from the entire top floor (woooohooooo) so I'm excited.

Which one did you get Igloo?

Tell me something, does size count (LOL) in this case? What's the difference between the amount of air a 42" blade would move compared to 52"? Are the sizes mainly to suit the size of room? I hope I haven't asked this before. I have my guy working on my ceilings as I type. We've managed to remove popcorn from the entire top floor (woooohooooo) so I'm excited.

I got the third FP820CH on that main page. It's chrome and matched the art deco lighting. My only change is that I'm having the arms (Fans) color changed to dark walnut (to match the wood panel wall in that room).

I must admit I was in a pinch when I ordered this. I ordered Fedex next day after finding out that the fan I thought was chrome (purchased a year before) was actually brushed nickle when they opened the box :( But in the end, despite the rush order, I'm glad we ended up with this one because it's so much nicer than our first pick.

Because of the rush, I wasn't looking at blade sizes, but it's not a problem in our very large room (ceiling height is 15', fan is at 9' and the room is about 20x20'). It's plenty strong enough to move the air nicely, and great to sit under if it's warm in the house.

thanks for the idea you posted in this forum:

Here is a link that might be useful: Ceiling Fan Reviews