"I still find them really harsh and unpleasant"

You're going to have to describe what you mean by "harsh" and "unpleasant". What is "comfortable" light? Light from a fixture with a color temperature of 2700K is about as warm in color as you can get. Is there too much glare? Are the lights too bright (apparently not)?

Better quality lights, with better diffusers are the cure for this.

Can you add pictures of your kitchen, please? Dimmers will DEFINITELY help.

I loathe the led disc lights too. I have much more comfortable eyes with fixtures that come down into the room a little (semi-flush or pendant if you have the height) and have white glass shades totally surrounding a bulb.

From what I understand, glare is exacerbated with cataracts (any vehicle's headlights being first on the list). "Wafer" lights are the worst perpetrator of the recessed fixture styles. You would want to use a recessed fixture with a regress (recess/"lip") as deep as you can find, instead of the flush lens of the wafer.

3onthetree: "You would want to use a recessed fixture with a regress (recess/"lip") as deep as you can find, instead of the flush lens of the wafer."

You could try replacing a wafer light with one of these:

• Commercial Electric 92223 4 in. LED Integrated Deep Baffle
• Maxxima MRL-S41503 4 in. Slim Round Recessed Anti-Glare LED Downlight, white
• Maxxima MRL-S41503 4 in. Slim Round Recessed Anti-Glare LED Downlight, white/black

I'd add a dimmer.