I wanted the same for our porch/patio area but backed out because of the bird issues. But there are some that are caged that are contemporary and nice looking.

Do caged fans circulate air well, though? (The dining balcony is indoors, btw - it's a "balcony" in that it's elevated a couple feet above the living room.)

I would probably do something white and simple like Modern Fan Company offerings--or a bit fancier like their Halo if your apartment is at all Deco.

I also like the Minka Aire Concept I and Concept II fans for their simplicity.

I once had a ceiling fan right over my dinning table and it just did not work for me. If I used it during meals it cooled the food very quickly and if I used light weight napkins, it blew them off! It did not have adjustable speed settings though which may have helped. Just something to think about.

I like the Craftmade Fredericksburg.

What about something like this one? It's from Lowe's.

I really like the idea of that drum shade fan (Allen + Roth Sun Valley).

We love our Matthews Fans ceiling fan. They now make a version with a built-in down-light.

We have the Vent Bettina, but the Aqua has the light.

Here is a link that might be useful: Matthews Fan Co.

The drum fans are really pretty, but do they move the air? Or do they just make a breeze directly below them?

I'm not trying to cool the dining balcony itself - it's entirely open to the living room, and I'll probably turn the fan off when I'm actually eating. I need the fan to push cool air into the kitchen and bathroom, which don't have air conditioners. See the floorplan attached.

So far, I'm attracted to the very modern fans. My style's pretty eclectic - the foyer chandelier is mid-century modern, the dining room set's from the 30s, the living room is kind of Victorian, the kitchen is traditional ...

Thank you for all the great suggestions! And what do you think of these?

http://www.lampsplus.com/products/40-inch-aerial-brushed-nickel-ceiling-fan-with-light-kit__m2558-m2561.html

http://www.lowes.com/pd_131430-1811-E+GAL52BC4GRS_0__?productId=3320302

http://www.hansenwholesale.com/ceilingfans/model.asp?ProdNo=F516-WH

Also, I just realized that you can mix and match light kits and fans. There are some pretty light kits out there.

This is the fan i put in my 1926 bungalow kitchen - a 52" dimmable light with remote control: I also installed a ceiling medallion because the previous light's hole was bigger than this new fan's canopy.

I don't love the way ceiling fans look either, but I do love their function. I have them in almost every room of my home and run then all summer. It keeps the air flowing and we can lower the thermostat by a few degrees because it feels cooler.

My favorite looking fan is the Hampton Bay Garrison. We bought ours at Home Depot. http://www.homedepot.com/p/t/100583172?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&storeId=10051&N=5yc1vZbvlqZ1z10h77Z1z10h7kZ1z10h5uZ1z10h6mZ1z10h5u&R=100583172#.UT82vldQog8

I had a ceiling fan in my kitchen when we moved in. I loved being able to use it when cooking in the summer, but I hated the way it looked. When we remodeled, I went with the Hunter Fanaway. The blades fold up on top so when it is not in use, it just looks like a light fixture. Everyone is surprised when I turn it on and the fan blades pop out. I will say I don't care for the light on it though. It is fluorescent, but I have LED recessed lighting in the kitchen so I rarely every use the light. It looks nice and the fan is there for when I want it. http://www.lowes.com/pd_313231-79-21425_4294935502%2B4294703723%2B4294867912__?productId=3088485&Ns=p_product_avg_rating:1&pl=1ätURL=%3FNs%3Dp_product_avg_rating:1&facetInfo=Fan%20Remote%20Included:Yes

Take a look at fanaway. The blades retract when not in use. I have seen this in person in a breakfast nook and it is cool and pretty. The fan part seemed to work well too.

A fan at the openings of the rooms you want to direct air into would do a better job of pulling the cool air in and pushing it across the room than a fan in the center of the cooler room circulating air in that room, especially when you consider the hallway jigs and jags before you get to the bedroom. A floor fan or table fan would be the easiest way to get that control. There are wall mounted fans, but they would be a lot more expensive.

We use a tower fan similar to this one for redirecting air in one of our upstairs rooms. It draws the cool air in from the back and pushes it into the room that suffers from a thermostat having been wired in the wrong place by the builder.

Wow! The Hampton Bay Garrison fan is really pretty, and nearly 6000 CFM! I wonder if I can fit a 52" fan. I'll ask my contractor.

Good point about using floor fans to push air into the kitchen and bath. Do I have plug sockets in the right places? I'll check. (My contractor is ripping the apartment apart now, so this would be a good time to add a socket or two.)

From my experiences, I would avoid Hampton Bay- I will not buy another- and stick with the higher end fans. In the ceiling fan area, I think you get what you pay for, at least internally.

Bumblebeez - what problems specifically have you had with Hampton Bay?

I've had the Garrison fan in my basement for more than 5 years in a large media/rec room. I live in the south and it runs pretty much non stop from April until September. I've never had any problems with it. When my husband broke a glass shade, he called Hampton Bay and we were able to purchase a replacement shade with no problems. I haven't had that same luck with other light fixtures.

I'm curious how much you spend on a ceiling fan? The Garrison is around $200 - not astronomical, but not cheap. I've also bought a less than $100 Hampton Bay fan for a spare bedroom and I've had it for over 2 years with no problem.

Most of the fans in my home are Hunter and I've never had to replace a single one of them in the 10+ years I've owned the home. I wanted to buy Hunter for the basement, but I couldn't find one I liked as much as the Garrison. I decided to try the Hampton Bay and I've been very pleased with it. I'm not saying it is the best fan ever made, but it works, looks nice, and is affordable.

We've had two and had issues with the electrical doing wrong things: such as pushing the light switch and the fan comes on, just stuff like that. Cheap electronics, basically. I would buy another Hunter, in fact I just did, for our screened in porch, and it is a basic, non lighted white outdoor fan (something to blend in w/ the ceiling) and it was only around a hundred.

The Hunter in our bedroom has run every night, all night for 14 years, no wobbling, noise or electronic issues and still looks good, if a bit dated.
Whether or not they are still the same quality, I don't know.
I've been very happy with the Craftmade fans too for the same reasons.

There is a strong possibility the fans in the bedrooms upstairs are Hampton Bay and we haven't had any problems with them. We have a Hunter we are having to replace for electrical issues in the family room. It started changing speeds on the fan by itself and then the built in light kit died.

To be honest, with all the ceiling fans I've bought for a number of houses, I think this Hunter is the only one we've replaced for functional reasons and I've bought them in every price range. We could repair this one, and it is special enough that I might if it weren't for the fact that we found a double fan that should solve the strobe effect problem we've had with the fan and the recessed lights -- the reason we put this fan with a light kit in after we bought the house and discovered the problem.

Take a look at these and check out the vintage looking wall fans...could you do some can lights? Okay, they're pretty expensive.

{{!gwi}}

Here is a link that might be useful: pulley fans

Those are neat, but they run even more than this one that we are getting, but there are others that are less - the fans could be aimed to push air in the direction of the other rooms and not blow down to cool food as much. This Minka runs around $650 -- still more than a regular fan, but not into the 4 digits.

" I need the fan to push cool air into the kitchen and bathroom, which don't have air conditioners."

Sorry, but a dining room ceiling fan will not help much with that, especially for the bathroom.