Your choice is largely dependent on your bathroom décor. Below is a general style-guide to help you select a befitting bathroom fan. But before you move on, beware -- you have a vast range and ample varieties in both traditional and modern categories. Do not get overwhelmed by the looks or features and make an impulsive choice. A wrongly styled model can mar the beauty of the entire bathroom set-up.
Traditional bathroom fans
They are ornate objects of envy with decorative elements. Their vents may not be simple slits but elaborately carved floral or geometric patterns from aluminum or polymeric plastic. Their lighting is in mid-century style, with the casing being globe, oval, round, or other gracefully tapered shapes rather than angular cuts. This makes the fan look more like an elegant Victorian lampshade.
Some traditional designs are veritable chandeliers. They have multiple lights suspended from elegant dispensers, and the light casing is foggy white glass or polymeric plastic, radiating a diffused, soft incandescent glow rather than direct, strong light-streams.
The finishes are appropriately old-metal, oxidized, or brush-faded.
Traditional bathroom fans take the bathing experience backward in time, transporting you to the 1950s when a shower was meant to be unhurried and luxuriant, pampered by soft lighting and a somber setting. They are your choice if your bathroom is baroque, with subdued, calm, and serene bathroom interior. Soft-colored wall tiles and flooring and a marble sink will create an idyllic set-up for traditional bathroom fans.
Modern designs
They are angled with sharp edges, simplistic, and functionally-oriented. Squares, rectangles, or gently convex globes, they have slit vents either on the sides or on the front casing. Some designs have concealed vents.
Modern bathroom fans derive their charm from simple forms and efficient looks rather than leaning on elaborate decorative elements. Importantly, they almost always emit fluorescent light and are installed at the center of the ceiling. This makes them a focal feature of bathrooms.
These fans will ideally suit neutral bathroom décor. It means that yours should be less colorful or fancy and more subtle and simplistic. A flat sink-top with an undermount white sink and angular steel faucet, a stepped shower space, walls dominated by emptiness except for an unframed mirror, and no showy display of vanity-ware. Roomy and intentionally bare - that's your bathroom interior for a modern fan.