Ceiling Fan above Dining Table?

[audsma]

I guess I should already know the answer to my question, being on this forum, but I need some input. I am in the fortunate position to be deciding what lighting fixture I will put above our future dining room table. (We are temporarily relocated due to cabinet installation, so I'm not using the space at present.) DH really wants a fan above the table for the moving air and our efforts to minimize air conditioning. I have never had a beautiful chandelier (no crystal intended, I'm just looking at a dramatic wrought iron piece or something) and can't get it out of my mind that I want one. The idea too of the dusty fan revolving around my meals gives me the heebie jeebies a bit too.

It is hot here a lot, but we perhaps have 50 days per year max when we really need the AC in this ultra energy efficient house, I estimate. Also, the window treatments have yet to go on the sunny side (not an issue when dining in the evening, and for the occasional nights it doesn't cool off below 80, I doubt we'd really be without the AC on during those sunny mornings anyway. We have a ceiling fan in the living room, so we can move air in the space.

I cook on gas stove, electric oven, and have not really used my kitchen (only 1/3 complete now) to see how much it heats up the dining room.

Those are all of the major factors. My question is, do you have a fan above your dining table? Do you love it? Or, would you go with the chandelier?

[ChristyMarie]

I do not have a ceiling fan above a table and wouldn't. It would cool your food off too much!

But I don't actually like the look of ceiling fans. Now, I have several of the darn things (each bedroom and the family room) for cooling. They are a necessary evil. But not above the table. Maybe above a kitchen table (cool breakfasts and lunches wouldn't be ruined by being cooled too fast) but I just couldn't do it in the dining room.

I'm also a freak about having to have hot food, well, HOT.

[Ola_]

I agree, I think it would cool the food too quickly, I know I notice that when we eat in the living room and have a fan pointed at us. I'd go with the chandelier. Anothe option is to have a tall stand-up fan, then you can move it to whatever room you need, it would give you more flexibility.

Also, not sure if you'll ever be selling the house, but that might be a drawback. It's probably not that hard to replace with a regular light fixture, but people will look at little things like that and deduct a lot in their head, or even write the house off.

[Farmer'sWife]

We have one above our table because it was there when we bought the house. I like it because that is our main living area and it helps move the air so we don't run the AC as much. But, if you don't think you would use it much, then go for the pretty chandelier!

[Drummer's Wife]

I voted no. It would probably bug me. We have hanging light fixtures/chandelier over both the kitchen table and in the formal dining room. I'm picturing a cieling fan (which we have in 7 other rooms), and it doesn't seem right to me.

[TortelliniMama]

If you ever light candles at meals, a fan can get really annoying. We have a ceiling fan in our kitchen, and it screw with the gas burners if we have it on while cooking.

[mumm]

I have a ceiling fan in both our informal dining room and the more formal dining room. It does not flicker the candles at all. We don't use A/C so I like it for the breeze it offers. We recently renovated and took out the ceiling fans in the living rooms and all the bedrooms. Big mistake. We really miss them and I wish we had them in every room still.

[staceychev]

I said maybe, and I have to be honest, I do have some regrets. We have a ceiling fan in our small family room, bedrooms and full bathrooms, but chose not to put one in either the dining room or kitchen. We don't have a fancy-shmancy chandelier but it's a cool light and I like having it. But in our 120 year old house with no A/C, a ceiling fan would be nice sometimes!

[jtsmom]

I didn't vote. My answer would be absolutely not, if that was an option.

First of all, I wouldn't like dust particles in my food.

Second of all, it's bad feng shui.

[Katie T]

I do not and wouldn't. I hate dining at other peoples homes who have one running because it cools the food off which drives me nuts.

I would just get a beautiful piece and if you need a fan get one of those tall skinny fans to put in the corner of the room.

[FillingMyQuiver]

I didn't vote, but we have one over our dining table. We have an open LR/ DR and the ceiling fan is in the middle of the space in a 12ft vaulted ceiling. The fan helps A LOT during the day when it gets hot in our house. When it's time to eat a hot meal, we just turn the fan off so it doens't cool the food

[Masel]

The dining room is the only room without a ceiling fan. This was a previous owners doing and I always thought it was because the room is long and narrow and has two fixtures. It never occurred to me that the dust catcher would be over the food.

There are some really pretty antique looking table fans. It would provide air movement and you could direct it away from the table surface.

[texmati]

I live in texas where it is oppressively hot most of the year and have never seen a fan in a dining room. I wouldn't do it in a formal room, but might consider one in the kitchen.

But... if you've always wanted a chandelier, I say go with that!

[sunnysandiegan]

We don't have a formal dining room nor do we have A/C. The ceiling fan is a must in the kitchen. It has never cooled our food off. Our kitchen faces due West and gets very warm in the summer. Without the fan, we'd be miserable about half the year in our climate.

That said, not everyone's situation is the same. I voted "maybe".

BTW, I clean the fan regularly and dust does not fly all over the place. In the kitchen, the fan gets a bit greasy more than dusty.

[Ruthla]

I don't have a dining room; the "dining room table" is our kitchen table. I wish we had a ceiling fan in there- it gets hot and stuffy in there often.

If you find it annoying during candlelit dinners, you can always turn the fan off during the meal and then turn it back on when you're finished eating.

[littlest birds]

We removed the ceiling fan over our table. We now have a high velocity floor fan in the wide doorway that pulls air across through the house and we normally don't even keep it on at meals for the sake of quiet. We store it most of the year so we don't have to look at it or walk around it except when we want to use it.

We live in a hot area in a 100+ year old house, we do not have AC, we have ceiling fans in some other rooms-- some we have added. Oppositely, we removed the light over our bed (I hate ceiling lights over beds sooo much because you stare up at them and the light is right in your eyes) and have a lightless fan there which is perfect.

A fan feels wrong for the energy of gathering at the table, it adds visual clutter year-around, and also the dust over food is yucky. We have customized the lighting/fans to better fit our use in our whole house and that fan had to go.