Although many will tell you the ideal thing to do, many of us cannot afford that. I renovated my wider galley last year and couldn't afford the recessed lights I wanted to put through out. It had a center ceiling fixture at the end my the fridge and sink and then a chandlier for you to hit your head on at the other end (they had a small table at that end) and a recessed light in the soffit over the sink. I opted to do two things, I put a new center ceiling fixture near the stove and sink and put a can light over the sink when I took out the soffit. From Judy's New Kitchen And down at the far end which is very dark because of no windows, I put a matching pendant over the little eating area I built and then put in two can lights to light up the dark corner and the open counter area I like to work on. From Judy's New Kitchen Although far from the lighting system my electrician recommended for the room, I find it very functional and have no issues with light. I am moving this fall into a new house with a small galley kitchen that I just gutted. There is no windows in the cabinet area at all. In that case, I just had the central fixture replaced with 5 can lights and I added undercounterlights to the side with the sink and the most counter area.

Your contractor's layout is preferable, though moving the lights closer to the counter tops would be fine - between 24" - 30". If you use lights like the Cree CR4 or CR6, there will be sufficient spillover to augment the light from the pendants over the island in the center of the room. If the pendants provide insufficient light, they can be swapped out/ higher output led lamps may be used. Rationale The counter tops will be better lit with UCL than cans. Even if you do have the ability to put can lights over the counter tops, the distance to the counter top reduces the amount of incident light. There should be sufficient distance from the crown molding around the upper cabinets to the cans so that the trim can be fit and look properly spaced. A more regular pattern is preferable as it isn't like a random pattern of holes in cheese. Eyeball cans are more troublesome in the long run. The final location of the cans will be determined by the layout of the ceiling joists as well as obstructions above the ceiling board. There has been ample discussion on the DIY led recessed lighting guide for kitchens thread on this topic

I agree with most of the comments here! I have an aisle kitchen but unlike you I have a large window in front of my sink. We had a huge fluorescent box fixture above the sink and my kitchen always looked dark. We recently replaced the fixture with ( 3) 4 inch can lights and Wow what a difference that made! If your unable to have those installed they have some nice LED track lighting that was mentioned aboe that looks beautiful too! I like your bright accessories on your countertops too as it gives a pop of color.

Yes, I have thought about that.. Ikea only has one depth wall cabinets which are the same depth as their shallow base.. (Previously that wall had the same thing (wall same depth as base.. But the previous cabinets were built in place.. 13" depth instead of 14 3/4.. ) That's why I designed it with the top 21" shorter than base so that the counter will be useable.. Also thinking of mounting the cabinets a bit higher than normal (19"-20") above counter so counter is more useable. If you have a suggestion of where I could get 12" wall frameless quickly w/o doors?? and maybe use ikea doors with them?