I have a similar problem in my kitchen, although my ceilings are 9 feet and the light box is not recessed. I had my electrician out last week to see what options I have for replacing it. I was thinking I'd do recessed can lights throughout the kitchen and just replace the box with a flush mount fixture. Turns out that because the house is a two-story, with the master bath directly above the kitchen, we cannot do recessed lighting, as there would be no way to wire for it without going through the bathroom floors above, and that would involve replacing the floor. So we are stuck with just replacing it with a flush mount fixture and hoping it gives enough light. Also, we have no idea what we will find once the box is taken down--crossing my fingers that the builder painted the ceiling *before* putting the light box up. Otherwise we are looking at having to paint the kitchen and great room ceilings (they are open to each other). Good luck.

We have the same problem with 8' ceilings and recessed light box. The current plan is to put track lighting in the recess. I think the track fixtures will be flexible enough to add plenty of light with a more updated look. Just like mybroweyedgirls, we won't know exactly until we see what we have to work with.

This is my second post on this, my previous one yesterday never showed up. I may end up with two.