I got a bad shock once from a fluorescent socket where the bulb was missing and I didn't know, so beware.

As to rectangular fixtures, there are some very cool looking modern incandescent fixtures of large rectangular shape with small bulbs or circles, or other decorative items hanging down from them. Some of them are not flush or semi flush but hang from four sides like a chandelier.

You might search for online lighting sources or go to houzz.com and search contemporary lights in kitchens. Good luck.

You can replace the existing ballast with a "low ballast factor" ballast. That will lower light output by about 20%. You can install lower power lamps and, maybe, bet a similar reduction.

Be careful of combining low output lamps with low ballast factor ballasts. Some combinations will not work well. Low temperature performance is a particular problem, but not usually in a kitchen. Be careful about how the current luminaire is wired. If is has instant-start ballasts, you have to stick with instant-start or get new sockets for programmed-start ballasts.ÃÂ I'd do that latter in a residential kitchen.

There is a table in this document with examples of both substitutions:

http://www.gelighting.com/LightingWeb/na/images/66124_PS_Ballasts_T8_Fluorescent_Lamps_Brochure_tcm201-21120.pdf

If you don't want to replace your entire fluorescent lighting fixture what you can do to dim down the lights is to replace the panel itself with a light diffuser. It helps the distribute the light evenly throughout the room. I would recommend USASkypanels as a place to purchase the light diffuser. Here is an example of what I did to my office since I was having the same problem with the bright lights.

You can also install either low output lamps or low output ballasts