We had several of those in our kitchen/keeping room when we moved in. We had the fixtures removed, the ceiling patched, and can lights installed. No comparison. We also have 8' ceilings.

You might need more than one ceiling fixture. How large is your kitchen? Is it modern or traditional?

We have a u shaped kitchen separated from the eating area by a peninsula.
The working area, where the fluorescent lighting is, is about 14' x 14'.
How many can lights do you think we would need?
My kitchen is more traditional than modern.

We took out the tube flourescent and put in a CFL fixture of similar wattage. I had to repaint the ceiling in that area, but that was it.

Our kitchen is 15 square feet. We also have a hanging fixture over the table, then task lighting in pendants over the sink, and then in the range hood.

I am not a fan of can lighting, but based on what your kitchen may look like, that might work for you.

I'm not a designer, by a long shot, but I did DIY my kitchen which is 12 x 14.
It has 8 ft ceilings (no island) and a peninsula (no overhead cabs).
What I did for lighting, was a centered semi-flush mount fixture, with 2 matching pendants over the peninsula, a 3-light matching chandy over the sink and finally, the co-ordinating 5 light chandy over the breakfast nook (next to peninsula).

It's good lighting for me, but what really puts it over the top is under cabinet task lightng (T-5's).

Just thought I'd share :)

Dawn

In our previous 10 x11u-shaped kitchen we removed the large fluorescent box installed four 6 inch cans in the ceiling. The peninsula dividing the kitchen and eating area had upper cabinets and the sink was located there. We also added a small can over the sink. It was installed inside the short cabinet above the sink and a whole was cut into the bottom of the cabinet for the light. We felt we had more than enough general lighting.
Now that I have under cabinet lights in my new kitchen, I realize how great it is to have that too.

We have those, and we are planning to replace with CFL track lighting. Look for electronic ballasts for instant-on.

We replaced ours with a semi-flush mount that holds three 100-watt equivalent CFL lights. We put a pendant over the sink. With those and under-cabs, we have plenty of light.