Recessed lights (pot lights) give a clean, modern look and even light. Planning the layout and choosing the right housing make the difference between great lighting and a ceiling full of glare or hot spots.
Plan the spacing
A rough rule is to space lights about as far apart as half the ceiling height, and keep them off the walls enough to avoid scalloped shadows. Plan task lighting over work areas like counters, and ambient lighting for general fill. Too few looks dim; too many looks like an airport.
Use IC-rated housings in insulated ceilings
Where a recessed light sits against ceiling insulation (like a top-floor ceiling below an attic), it must be an IC-rated (insulation-contact) housing, or it's a fire risk and you can't pile insulation over a non-IC fixture. Air-tight IC housings also stop warm air leaking into the attic.
Go LED
LED recessed fixtures and retrofit trims run cool, last for years, and use a fraction of the energy of old incandescent cans. Many slim LED units install in a shallow ceiling without a bulky housing.