"Shouldn't have high hats in a dining room." A chandelier is considered a necessity in a dining room because of the way it distributes light. When sitting around a table with family and friends we look our best with light falling on our faces from a fixture hanging over the table. A hanging fixture placed in this area helps eliminate facial shadows. If lighting humans from directly overhead we look like zombies with huge bags under eyes and shadows under noses and chins. Good reasons for not having a chandelier may be that you have an incredible view out the dining window that you don't want to block, the table must be movable for special events or the interior designer says so. Recessed fixtures can supplement a chandelier. One on each side of the chandelier can be aimed down through the chandelier to light the fixture itself better. This makes crystal sparkle. On long tables you might add a recessed fixture over the table at each end to create nice pools of light which make holiday meals, china and glassware look very nice. If there is art on the walls then recessed fixtures should be used to light the art. MR16 fixtures are recommended for the above types of lighting. Small apertures help the fixtures to not be so noticeable and the small lamps are more adjustable. If you choose to have recessed fixtures instead of a chandelier then you will need to put them down the center line of the table using a wide flood type of lamp to get the light to fall on faces from the best possible angle. You will likely need more of them to light the walls. With only some in the middle of the room the walls will be dark.

We have both in our dining room (chandelier and recessed), it opens onto the kitchen and the living room (where I also put recessed). Probably a decorating no no, but we put smaller cans (4 inch) in and only on the perimeter of those rooms, and they are on dimmers and I love how they look and they don't detract from my chandelier at all, at least I don't think so. Our house is being remodeled so the pictures show burned out bulbs and a huge mess, but at least you can see the recessed with the chandelier and the fan. It may not be the proper way to do things, but I love having the recessed when we entertain, and we can turn them way down when we want to watch a movie in the living room so you can make it feel like a theater. We have much less room in this house than in our old one, so no place is formal even if I do have formal furnishings in the dining room, we just couldn't afford to have a museum for fine furniture like we did in our old house, with it's separate LR and DR that no one ever went in.

Walk areas and undercabinet lighting.

If it was me I wouldnt have pendants there they seem like if you are standing there they are at eye level, and when you are sitting they are right on top of you. However, if you keep the pendants i would do smaller glass, in length and or a small metal shade, since you still need these for task lighting avoid Edison bulbs. IMO