We built 14 years ago so there might be a better solution, but for uplighting we are very pleased with our flourescent fixtures that are hardwired to a separate switch in our kitchen. You don't see the fixture and you want a more general light, so you really don't need anything fancy. We also have a 9' kitchen. We have staggered cabinets with 6 taller uppers and 5 standard height cabinets. We only put them in the standard height cabinets.

One thing I do wish we had done, however, was to install outlets above the cabinets IN ADDITION to the above cabinet lighting. I decorate above my cabinets for the holidays and LOVE to plug in lighted decorations up there that light up the evening kitchen.

So do both! Do you have a picture of your kitchen layout?

We did this in our kitchen. But we have 10' ceilings which gives about 2 feet of lighted space above them and several feet of the ceiling. The lights are Juno mini track lighting with 10w frosted Xenon bulbs. Same as we used under the cabinets. I should mention in this picture that I just replaced the sheetrock on the backsplash and it is unpainted so it looks whiter than the top. I have since painted and the colors are matching. They are all on maestro dimmers (make sure you get the one appropriate for your transformer type). Here is a pic but the pic doesn't do it justice. We really like the effect. At night it is sufficient to get in the kitchen and grab something out of the fridge etc. It also lights up the area so there is not a black hole in the kitchen. At some point when LED fixtures are cheaper we can just swap out the lamps.
{{!gwi}}From GW Album

I'd use simple 2' and/or 4' strip light fluorescent fixtures with good quality electronic ballasts. To blend with incandescents, fit 3000K lamps of at least 82CRI.

We used rope lighting, just plugged into the outlet up there. We control them with remote on/off switch we bought from Lowe's.