"The house was built with plenty of dimmable can lighting in the ceiling, but we find that light to be very harsh when it's turned up enough to actually light the room."

Is it possible that the recessed lights have a high "daylight" color temperature (e.g., 5000K, 6500K) which makes the light cold and harsh? Perhaps switching them to "warmer" (lower color temp.) lights would make the difference. A pair of new condos recently built nearby has recessed lights that are very cold, emitting bluish light like lamps in a parking lot. I'd never even turn them on!

I agree the bulb temp is too high, try 3500K you will still get the daylight feel but no where near as intense. As for arc lights the 2 yr old would have a probem with this oneit has a marble base I can hardly move.I actully love arc lamps they put light into the center of a space .

They're a warm temp (but they are LED) -- definitely hate cool blue light in a living space so we chose these deliberately. But the bulbs are pointing directly down over our heads so the overall effect is glare.

These Globe Electric 4-inch and 6-inch recessed lights promise glare control. I have no independent knowledge.