Are you thinking of having the ceiling fan located over the island? Personally, I would prefer pendant lights in that area.

Depends on whether you use, or would miss having the fan. We use our ceiling fan on warm days/evenings. In fact, in our old kitchen here, I told DH to get me a ceiling fan for my birthday one year, I wanted one that much! LOL

The "old" kitchen fan is now in our bedroom, and we got a new one for the kitchen when we did our reno. To me, it was more important to have a fan than to have pendants.

they have a lot of new ceiling fans out. I like the one with a small fan on each end and a light in the middle. My sister has one like that over the divider 'island' between her kitchen and DR.

Aesthetically I'd prefer pendant lights over an island, and they are fine with 8' ceilings. Functionally, as cat_mom says it depends upon whether or not you'd use it/miss it. In my new build the *only* room without a ceiling fan will be the kitchen. Oh, and the bathrooms. I turn my fans on in the summer and pretty much don't turn them off until fall. There are some lights I'd love to put in the bedrooms but I just won't give up the ceiling fans in those areas. So... it goes back to the old form or function question.

Thanks everyone! Does anyone have photos of doing a fan instead of pendant lights over the island?

When we got our fan (Matthews Fan Company; Vent Bettina), they didn't make one with a "built-in" light, but since then, they have come out with at least one model that does, if you need a fan with lighting.

We LOVE our ceiling fan--its form as well as its function! FYI, ours is the chrome finish. Had originally seen it in the chrome finish, and had planned on ordering the brushed nickel until we saw the sample chips. The chrome's color was nicer (in our opinion) and the sparkle of the polished chrome really made the fan "pop" so to speak. :-)

Here is a link that might be useful: Vent Bettina Spec Sheet

I don't have a pic of my sister's fan but it's similar to this one -

Here's the invisible fan by Artemis. We love it.
It comes in many finishes. Ours is translucent. It really cools the kitchen down.

Here is a link that might be useful: invisible fan