Under Cabinet Lighting In A Kitchen

[IGBT]

Any thoughts on what's the best course of action i.e. under cabinet lighting in a kitchen?? Looking for something that would have three modes of operation. Steady "on"...motion detecting "On" and dimmer modes on the aforementioned...

 

[sdifox]

Should be plenty of led options no?


Example, not recommendation

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B096XHLDQ8/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

 

[BoomerD]

The problem with under cabinet lighting is power...do you want battery operated? Lots of options...some decent, others, not so much. Do you want 110v wall powered? Lots of great options...if you have an outlet conveniently placed...and you don't mind seeing the cords. (You could, of course, have an outlet installed inside the cabinets under which you want the lighting...but that has its own set of headaches.

 

[IGBT]

The problem with under cabinet lighting is power...do you want battery operated? Lots of options...some decent, others, not so much. Do you want 110v wall powered? Lots of great options...if you have an outlet conveniently placed...and you don't mind seeing the cords. (You could, of course, have an outlet installed inside the cabinets under which you want the lighting...but that has its own set of headaches.

I have a hidden outlet in a cabinet above the microwave so perhaps that may help...I battery jobbies now and am looking to upgrade...

 

[IGBT]

Should be plenty of led options no?


Example, not recommendation

https://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B096XHLDQ8/ref=dp_ob_neva_mobile

yes...looks interesting!!

 

[Greenman]

LED light tape. Either stick it to the bottom of the cabinet or use the aluminum track. Cheap, easy, dimmable, low voltage. I've installed hundreds of feet of it.

 

[herm0016]

the light tape is good. I like it in a track with a diffuser.

we did the Ikea version in a kitchen and it was great. routed the wire into the microwave space and put the transformer in there with a little hole under the cabinet for the switch.

 

[Greenman]

the light tape is good. I like it in a track with a diffuser.

we did the Ikea version in a kitchen and it was great. routed the wire into the microwave space and put the transformer in there with a little hole under the cabinet for the switch.

The reality is that there is ne reason to use anything but LED strip lights. You can run the wiring from the transformer through cabinets, under base board, behind trim, pretty much anywhere. I often used a remote controlled transformer rather than a switched outlet.

 

[adeymary92]

I'm surprised no one has even mentioned CRI-color rendering index. If your past attempts haven't given you the "look" that you wanted, perhaps it was because of low CRI.

Even with adequate flux, a CRI of less than 80 looks noticeably bland. Not exactly what you want for a colorful food prep area. Cheap LED strips often don't even give CRI ratings because they are so bad. Try to find 90+ CRI strips if you can.

 

[sdifox]

LEDs tend to all be in the 80 CRI neighbourhood.

These ones claim to have 90 CRI, I remain skeptical.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

When I remodeled my kitchen, I added switched outlets inside the cabinets, so I could do under-lighting later. But I haven't added it yet.

 

[bigi]

HIGHLY recommended.

I have 5 sets, 3 in the kitchen, 2 in garage. Those lit very nicely. Tons of expansion and mounting options, magnetic included (my garage).

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

I use LED strips. USB powered, so the wall wart is very small, same as a phone charger. RGB so I can set whatever color and brightness I want. Power use is so minimal, I just leave them on, but I've seen versions with motion detector options. Others are sound activated.