First off let me say: don't do the litepuff. There is a reason you want to change out your lighting, don't choose (basically) the same thing.

There are lots of wonderful non-recessed fixtures like semi-flush mounts that can really help out a kitchen. I know a lot of people now are using the classic schoolhouse style light. And there is a particular foyer pendant style light from pottery barn that keeps popping up in some beautiful kitchens.
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As for track lighting instead of pendants over the bar, Pottery Barn also has some nice options for that as well.
And they're on sale

Anyway, I would look for something you love and if you love recessed lighting, find a different electrician who is willing to make it work. It shouldn't be too terribly costly to patch sheetrock (even correctly) if need be.

Best of luck, and no I don't work for PB, I just happen to notice the sale and now I'm thinking about them :)

We have a 15 x 10' kitchen with 8' ceilings, and we don't have recessed lights. However, one of our neighbors did put them in, and they look good.

We have pendants over the sink, a small chandelier over the table, plus there is a light on the vent hood. To get rid of our tube flourescents that were, we found a CFL flush-mount light fixture at Lowe's. It looks great, and we are happy with it. I just had to touch up the paint on ceiling once the tube flourescents were removed.

There are a few sizes and finishes of this fixture available.

Hope this helps.

Here is a link that might be useful: Good Earth Lighting CFL fixture

I agree with gsciencechick that even a straight-forward ceiling mount light is a better choice than fluorescent, but I might go with a multi-light (3 bulbs) fixture to ensure you get enough light.

I say call another electrician or find a team like I did...I work with a guy who is skilled in carpentry and small electric but he works in tandem with a pro electrician....he knows how to drill through the ceiling and joists and fish the wire and he's great at mudding and finishing the patches. And we went through plaster!

Thanks so much for the comments. After looking things over at Lowe's and HD today, I'm sure we won't go back with another tube fluorescent, modern or no. I like the idea of a nice flush mounted central fixture but we are concerned about getting enough light. Our kitchen dimensions are 10'x13'. Gsciencechick, would it be possible for you to post a pic of your kitchen w/the CFL fixture? Your kitchen and mine are about the same size. What we really need out of the ceiling fixture is general room lighting. We'll have the under cabinet lighting and pendants over the peninsula for more task lighting. Thanks again everyone!

Our current kitchen is an 8x15 galley. When ew moved in there was an awful (and small) incandescant fixture- 75 watt maximum, lighting the entire kitchen. We quickly replaced that with a Rejuvination schoolhouse fixture. Very attractive, goes with my house, BUT still has never been enough light at 150 watts (single socket).

My neighbor, who has the exact same kitchen, put in an attractive track lighting fisture with 5-6 directionals a few years ago. It is fantastic. It lights up the whole space well, and is attatches to a single box.

In our remodel, we have chosen to remove the ceiling, for the exact reason that you electrician wisely noted, that punching holes in the ceiling will look like you did exactly that, because it will have to be patched. Recessed cans would show this worst of all. I am not a huge fan of them anyway, so I looked for alternatives to them for myself. We are getting 3 flushmount fixtures, 120 watts each from Restoration Hardware, and doing 2 pendants over the island, as well as some undercabinet lighting. I will probably add some task lighting (wall lamps) at our message center and full length chalkboard as well.

HTH!

BTW, brickton, I do work for PB, and those are great units for the money. Just don't tell anyone I am using RH lights in my kitchen-- SHHHH! ;)