It might be possible to remove the retrofit can portion, fit a hanger bar + junction box combo such as http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc1v/R-100124274/h_d2/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10053&langId=-1&keyword=hanger%20bar&storeId=10051

Thanks for all of the input!!! It sounds like a pendant may not be in my future. I loved the idea of it but as I was looking at it more, I was worried that there might be too much going on there. I was having second thoughts and wanted to get opinions from all of you. Holly-Kay: we are planning on changing out the chandelier above the table to a bronze finish to tie in with the darker wood and fireplace things. But I see how a pendant above the sink might be too much. Snookums2: we removed the dark screens and it looks much better. I can't wait for everything to get started! I thought about tiling to the ceiling but wasn't sure since our cabs don't go to the ceiling. We are going to add a taller crown but nowhere near ceiling height. That may be the subject of another post. Nosoccermom: great idea about hanging a balloon. I don't have photoshop but maybe I could cut and paste something there and post again. Thanks for the suggestions!

Most 'recessed to pendant conversion kits' should allow you to use a variety of cable-hung pendants. As such, you can then 'swag' to relocate the drop point to get pendants hanging directly overhead. You can use Plumen's Ceiling Hook or similar to secure the placement.

cherylbirth - degrees Kelvin (K) - measures color Lumens - measures brightness Watts (w) - measures energy used 3500K isn't a measurement of brightness, it is a measure of color temperature. The lower the degrees Kelvin ("K"), the more warm/yellow/orange the lights look. The higher the degrees Kelvin, the more cool/blue/purple the lights look. In my opinion - and this is all subjective! - 3500K would be too "white" to use in most areas of my home. It looks bluish to me and makes people look kind of pasty. It's fine in our garage or storage area in our basement, but not in my bedroom. For people who grew up with incandescent bulbs, a "soft white" color is going to look most familiar - the range for soft white is 2700K-3000K. That's what most people are used to at this point in time. Anything below that will look very orange. Anything above that will look very blue. So if you want to get something that will look like a "typical" incandescent lightbulb, then something in this range would be ideal. A related issue is that most LED lights dim differently than incandescents. Incandescent lights will get warmer as they dim. So when they are at 100% brightness, they might be 3000K. As they dim, they can get down to 2400K. So an incandescent light bulb will look pretty white when it is at full brightness and get more yellow/orange as you dim it. Again, this is what our brains are used to seeing if we grew up with this type of lightbulb. Most LED lights do not get warmer as they dim. So a 3000K LED light will typically remain at 3000K when dimmed, it will just emit less light. This will look unnatural to someone who grew up using incandescent bulbs, since we are used to the light getting more orangey as it dims. The newer LED technology adjusts for this and allows the lightbulbs to mimic incandescents more closely. So the newer LED lights with dim-to-warm technology will look 3000K at full brightness, and get closer to 2600K when dimmed. Most of them don't get to the 2400K range like an incandescent, but the effect is better than nothing. These LED lights are the closest option right now to mimicking an incandescent light. All of the discussion about what looks best is subjective, but I do think it is distracting to mix colors of lights within a room. Maybe you can do everything in your bathroom at a cooler temperature, and everything in your bedroom at a warmer temperature, but to me, it looks very odd to see the different tones of lights in the same room. Instead of blending in and just lighting up the space, they become their own element with different colors scattered around the room.