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Can ceiling fans be mounted in kitchens?

User
14 years ago

I am curious about this, because a friend tells me that they will blow the heat away from your stove and not let pots cook properly.

I have a 24" four-blade tiny ceiling fan which will fit in my small kitchen. It is not yet mounted, it is a ceiling hugger.

If it should prove to mess with the cooking efficiency--or pose a safety hazard for some reason--it can always be turned OFF while using the stove top.

However, I am in the process of making a recently enclosed back porch part of the kitchen, and it gets warm out there. It has a lot of lovely golden light, since it has a southern and eastern exposure. There is no a/c duct to the porch, and the wall separating the two spaces is not YET destroyed. Sad to say, my DH starts breaking out in hives every time he sees me pick up a sledge hammer, and I've had to call a halt to my joyful demolition work.

But I do need that ceiling fan, and I just wanted to ask if there might be some compelling reason I should NOT INSTALL a ceiling fan in the kitchen.

Comments (29)

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago

    I made a comment on Loretta's thread on this but will also comment here. We had a early 60's house. There were two ugly ceiling fixtures in the kitchen. We had no air conditioning in this house. We bought two small $20.00 ceiling mount ceiling fans from walmart for the kitchen. Was wonderful. the room was 17 1/2 foot long. There was plenty of space between them. There was one over the table out of the picture.I will post that end next.

    We also had them in every other room but the bathroom and hallway.

    At our last house we also had a ceiling fan. We have a ceiling fan in our living room here and since the living room and kitchen are open to each other I get the breeze from it. Would be nice to put a ceiling fan in the dinning room. Not sure it will hold it. I will ask our Mario. If it will I think I will see if we can get another matching one for the dinning room.

    Personally I could care less what is the in thing to do or not. I care much more about our comfort. I would much rather have a ceiling fan than fans perched all over the place. WE also have one in our bedroom.

    Chris

    Here is a link that might be useful: Ceiling fan

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago

    Here is the other ceiling fan in the dame kitchen. GADS I had so many plants then. Three moves later I do not have very many left. :^(

    So one fan close to the sink one over table. There was also a oil furnace in the room under the window.

    Chris

    Here is a link that might be useful: Second picture

  • idie2live
    14 years ago

    I've had 2 ceiling fans in my kitchen for over 25 years. The one closest to the stove usually runs 365 days a year. I'm planning to replace them with a newer model. No problems while cooking.

  • teresa_nc7
    14 years ago

    My kitchen ceiling fan is just feet from my gas range. I've never noticed any problems when cooking. I've also got fans in 2 of my bedrooms, but not in the bedroom I use. So far, I'm happy with that.

  • TxMarti
    14 years ago

    I have a ceiling fan in my kitchen too and no problems. I will admit I worry about dust building up on the blades and sometimes forget to check before turning it on. Haven't ruined a meal yet though. It's hot in Texas. Comfort comes first.

  • flgargoyle
    14 years ago

    One should NEVER put ceiling fans in the kitchen (where's that sarcasm emoticon when you need one?) We put ceiling fans wherever they're needed, and in FL, that's everywhere!

  • User
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    You guys are the greatest! It is a unanimous vote FOR ceiling fans in the kitchen. I was not going to back down on my decision to use the fan of course.

    I also have one in our bedroom, and turned on low it is great, even with the A/C turned on. We keep the temp turned up to 78 in the summer. It might sound pretty hot to you, but actually, it is quite a bit cooler when you enter from working outdoors. I just cannot take the temp differences like I once could.

    Because I have parrots, and two of them are African Greys which have a lot of feather dust (not as bad as cockatoos though), I also have an air purifier by Austin. And in the sun porch we have a filtering window a/c which brings in fresh air to cool instead of recirculating the same air. There is a small ceiling fan out there too. Actually, I have ceiling fans in every room of the house except the kitchen and the bathroom. I rather like feeling cozy and a little warm when I'm wet.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago

    Don't you just love being a rebel. Imagine ceiling fans when they are so out dated and in the kitchen no less. Hehehehe I think us small house folk live life out of the box. Think about it. We use our heads to work through small situations. Instead of just throwing money at them.In Comfort is more important than in style.

    Off to work.

    Chris

  • wantoretire_did
    14 years ago

    I say, put one wherever needed. However, I do have one near the gas stove in my tiny kitchen, and when a burner is on high, the fan does blow the flame. There are times when I have to turn it off because of blowing out a low burning gas burner.

  • User
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    Wantto, you note a case for caution in the use of the fan, but do not object to mounting the ceiling fan in the kitchen. I'm sure that might be where my neighbor/friend's caveat against ceiling fans in kitchens originated....way back in her history with old gas stoves or something like that. Maybe it was from her mother's experience with WOOD STOVES--that excellent old lady died last spring a month before she turned 100!

    IF I had a gas stove (or even ANY stove in my kitchen), and the front/back walls to dining/back porch were still NOT knocked down, I could see the confined breeze playing havoc with the gas flame. Blowing out the gas flame these days is not as critical due to safety shutoffs with the stoves being constructed.......am I right there, or do I misinterpret the way a gas stove shuts off the gas supply if the flame goes out?

    I'm pleased to find so many folks in our small homes forum who use the ceiling fan in the kitchen. I never visited a home which had one there, but I was open to the idea.

  • idie2live
    14 years ago

    Oh yes, now I see why some would think it was not a good idea.
    Around here most people have electric ranges so fans in the kitchen are really popular.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago

    Yes we also have electric range . I would love to have gas but it is not available here unless we do the whole tank deal and with the snow and the way the house sits it would be very hard to do. I do have a small three burner gas stove on the porch to use. Hooks to propane bottle. I usually set it up as my canning kitchen in summer. Or did at the last house. Have not canned much but jam since we have been here.

  • Happyladi
    14 years ago

    I think a ceiling fan in a kitchen is a great idea, kitchens get hot and a breeze is nice. I even put a small ceiling fan in my master bathroom, it feels great in the summer.

  • desertsteph
    14 years ago

    i have ceiling fans in all the rooms in my new place except laundry, k*itchen and bathrooms. I'm thrilled - that means I don't have to pay to have them wired. might have to update a few down the road tho.

    I'll have to wait and see how it goes before I decide if I need one in the k*itchen.

    here are a couple of nice ones for a k*itchen. they're something like my sister's is over the bar that divides her k*itchen from the DR. She has a skylight in the center of the k*itchen ceiling.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    14 years ago

    OH Nice fan light combination. Looks sort of retro and modern at the same time. Very nice.

    Chris

  • TxMarti
    14 years ago

    I'd have one in the bathroom if my bathroom was big enough. I hate sweating while doing my face & hair.

  • User
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Hmmm, I have two of the 24" ceiling fans like Idie put on her porch. Ceiling huggers w/4 blades, short and real fat paddle blades can move the air nicely. Flat angled blades do not move much air. I have a 6 blade 30" wide fan on the sun porch, with a high angle on the blades, and it really does move the air out there. So I always look for a fan with some blade angle.

    I had not thought to add a ceiling fan in my master bath, but the second little 24" fan would be perfect for the size of the bath. It is not really a period bath, but will have the beadboard and the clawfoot slipper tub, and the stained glass window. So. Maybe THAT is where I'll have the electrician mount the other fan, turned on/off by a pull chain and not a wall switch. Next time he comes to work here, it will be in that master bath, perfect time to work it in, since DH will be gone up to Massachusetts. DH is due to hang the kitchen ceiling fan tomorrow morning. I hope.

  • idie2live
    13 years ago

    Last month I finally replaced my fans in my kitchen (one of them was about 20 years old). I like the look, but they don't emit as much light as the old energy hogs did, lol. They are by Hunter and are called "five minute fan". Trust me, that is just a name!

  • User
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Idie, I like the little one on your porch better than the ones in the kitchen, but I'm a "fan" of tiny. Do they move the air is the real question. You can put an energy saver bulbs in them with higher wattages than normal incandescent bulbs, to up the light. Ceiling huggers are the way to go.

    I forget which way the rotation is recommended for summer, and how do you tell when it is right. I might have to resort to laying on the floor looking up at the ceiling fan to tell WHICH WAY IS CLOCKWISE?
    Bummer.

  • Shades_of_idaho
    13 years ago

    They are beautiful Loretta. Your kitchen has turned out so pretty. And I never know which way is the right way either. I just fiddle with them until it feels good.

    Was at a friends house the other evening and they had really bright lights in their fans. They were the spiral ones and they said they were daylight bulbs. Was almost too bright. That is saying a lot coming from me where it is never bright enough.

    Chris

  • idie2live
    13 years ago

    Thanks, I really like the little fan, and it does come in a 52" model, but I wanted open globes for the kitchen. It is 18.5' long and requires a lot of light or it seems gloomy.

  • desertsteph
    13 years ago

    i can never tell the direction of those fans either!

    it needs to pull the air UP in the summer and down in the winter - right?

    the remotes should be marked air up or air down...
    of course mine are too old to have remotes...

  • User
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    The only one with a remote in our house is in our bedroom. I like turning it up and down with the remote. And the remote does not wander around...it stays right on my side of the bed.

    I opt mostly for direct wired fans, which turn on/off with the pull chains and no wall switch. Wall switches are a pain, when you have several in a row and it is always a question of WHICH SWITCH DOES WHAT. And with two chains, I've figured that one out. I put the fan on the longer chain with a crystal at the end, and the lights on the shorter chain with a ceramic knob at the end. Works for me.

  • prairie-girl
    13 years ago

    I don't have much to add, but I wanted to echo Chris's comment that Loretta - Your kitchen looks SO WONDERFUL!

    Great idea to put different types of knobs on the different chains - now, my only issue would be to remember which knob did what.... lol

  • idie2live
    13 years ago

    Thanks Chris and Missy. The ceiling needs to be painted, but I need to be in the mood to paint.

    Steph, I believe you are right. Warm air rised and cold air sinks. So it is clockwise in the winter and counter clockwise in the summer. (I think). But I leave mine the same way most of the time.

  • User
    Original Author
    13 years ago

    Idie, DH installed the Monte Carlo ceiling fan in the kitchen. The fan part is working like a champ, but the light part, well, he is cussing it.

    He's encountered the problem with other electrical products from China, where there is a thermostat or sensor will trip the light OFF if it senses the bulb wattage is to great.
    Mine takes the candelabra bulbs, and it is supposed to stand 60 watts, but it will only take a 7watt nightlight bulb. Not hardly enough to use in the kitchen ceiling.

    Well, DH plans to take the light portion of the fan down and bypass the shutoff, since we know what wattage to use.
    I like the engergy saver florescents with the candelabra bases and had some here, but it let them stay on about a half second before shutting those down too.

    Not to be outdone by a Chinese lantern, DH has moved on to installing the Minka Lavery double ended light fixture horizontally in the hallway. Great design, which will match the same series of sconces by Minka Lavery that I bought SIX MONTHS AGO, to install in the master bath...if and when the contractor ever comes back.

    Hopefully the second MonteCarlo tiny ceiling fan will NOT have a precocious sensor in it and there will be no issues with the lights working when we install it. Somewhere. Probably in the master bath? It is tiny enough to fit anywhere, even in a walk in closet! I do love it.

  • idie2live
    13 years ago

    ML, the small fan came with 2 of the 60 watt candlelabra bulbs. They work fine for me with not problems. i believe I did read in the instructions that it would shut off if bulb wattage was too high.
    One of the reasons I like open globe fans is because I like a lot of light in my kitchen.
    I'm so glad your DH has the know how to make it work for you.

  • mama goose_gw zn6OH
    13 years ago

    Hi, everyone, I'm late to the party, but I saw the discussion on idie2live's porch thread. We have ceiling fans in all our main rooms downstairs, even the kitchen. We lived in our home for 13 years without air conditioning, so the fans were a necessity. The only issue I have is that with an un-vented stove hood, the tops and sides of the blades get a greasy build-up. Of course, if I cleaned more often, that wouldn't be an issue. :0)

  • idie2live
    13 years ago

    ---'if I cleaned more often, that wouldn't be an issue'----

    Now that's funny! I had to laugh! When they're turning you can't see the dirt. I run my kitchen fans year round. When I decided to put up new fans, I was shocked at how filthy they were! That made me clean them all. Now if I could only remember to do t once a month, hmmmm

    Loretta

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