Under cabinet lighting in the kitchen

[kd460]

Getting ready to put up some slate for a backsplach in the kitchen. Finally got tired of hearing it from the wife.

So, before I do this I want to install some under cabinet lighting. This will go under the cabinets that are above the counter (the ones that hang 18 inches above the counter tops).

I only have 7/8 to 1 inch of space under the cabinets to hide whatever lighting I decide to use. I will also need to run electrical. I have access from the basement to fish wires, or I can cut away the drywall and then patch in pieces of drywall before I tile it. I was considering low voltage lighting and would like to run it on a dimmer.

Ideally, I would like to avoid fishing all new runs. Maybe just a few low voltage feeds to each bank of cabinets. Hopefully that will be doable from the basement (to fish a low voltage lead to each bank of cabinets).

So, looking for ideas of what type of lights to use, install info and tips, what to stay away from, what not to do etc.

Thanks, time to reload the insert, KD

 

[Dix]

I wanted under cabinet lights, but don't use them to often.

These were a viable alternative, works for me.

http://www.amazon.com/Emerson-UNDER-CABINET-LIGHT/dp/B00021RELA

I couldn't find mine, but you get the idea.

Also good during power failures, etc.

 

[kd460]

Thanks, I am tryint to conceal the lights as best as possible.

Just starting to do a little reading, and it looks like 110 volt will be the easiest. Fishing romex from my existing countertop plug outlets and bringing the romex up (behind the drywall) to new installed duplex outlet inside the cabinets. At least that is what I am getting so far...KD

 

[rowerwet]

Walmart sells under cabinet lights (not a source I would have thought of normaly) that are LED and are small (short) and about the diameter of a hockey puck. They sell ones that are battery powered, and ones that are connected in strings so they can all be turned on and off together. Also sold at HD, Lowes, etc.
Another idea I have thought of for my Kitchen is those rope lights, the halogen ones are dimable and would be out of sight when put up with the clips that come with them. They would be a lot cheaper than the fixtures intended for under cabnet lighting.

 

[mayhem]

I did the same thing last spring but I did the backsplash in marble. I swapped out a double gang receptacle with a single outlet/switch, wired up a set of those GE halogen lights and screwed them to the bottom of the cabinets. They work great and I use them all the time.

Lights, new switch/outlet and wire ran me maybe $50.

 

[begreen]

Looks purty nice there mayhem. Now get that big bucket of mud off the counter! %-P

 

[Loft32]

I like the 20W 110V halogen (hockey puck shaped) lights. You can get them at Lowes or HD in a set of 5 or 6. Each puck light has a cord long enough to fish down between the cabinets so the cords can be hidden. I make the connections up on top of the cabinets where it will be hidden (either wire nuts or multi-gang plug). The nice thing about the 110V halogens is that you can replace your wall switch with a regular dimmer (I love dimmers).

 

[BucksCoBernie]

Ikea sells counter lights...i installed them at my old house. they come in a pack of 3. you just run the wires to a power supply (hide it in one of the cabs) that gets plugged in to a normal outlet (hopefully you have an outlet thats close to the countertop). easy to install and they have a clean look to them.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/50119351

 

[GVA]

I used this in my old home..... http://www.seagulllighting.com/Linear-Lighting.htm
a bit more expensive but tucks behind the front lip of the cabinet and reflects light well towards the countertop and wall....
bought the dimmers too, which low voltage dimmers are a bit more expensive too, and never used them.....
easy to install too...

 

[fossil]

Our cabinets have little "skirts" installed to better hide the U/C lighting fixtures (Kichler halogens). Oh, wait...I'll take a picture. Rick

 

[seige101]

I highly recommend these from seagull lighting http://www.seagulllighting.com/Linear-Lighting.htm.

They aren't visable unless you are laying on the floor looking at the bottom of your cabinets, you can plop a light down anywhere you want, and they have different accessories. I have installed these in many customers homes including retrofitting my own. If you do go this route get the magnetic transformer not the electronic one, this way you can dim them. They are dimable from full on task lighting to low level ambiance lighting. Slightly more work in an old work setting like yours, but deffinately do able, you are going to have to fish in some wires no matter which route you go.

Kichler also makes the same kit as above but i believe they were they pricier one even though the parts are literally identical.

Personally i do not like the look of the hockey puck style lights, i think they provide more of a direct spot or cone of light on the counter top. The above ones spread the light evenly across the counter top.

My 2nd choice would be the halogen stips that fossil has in his kitchen, they also make a plug in version of them and they can be daisy chained together, if you didn't want to fish the walls.

 

[pybyr]

Think about LEDs- they are super compact, much more efficient than incandescents, and generate virtually no heat.

I built a set of under-cabinet LED lights for my parents using some nifty skinny printed circuit strips with surface mount LED's that I got on close out at a trade show- I don't think that the company that I got them from is still around, but they worked wonderfully, and are so tiny as to be virtually invisible except when turned on.

Google around and you can probably find something similar.

I set them up to run on a 12 volt plug in wall transformer.

 

[peakbagger]

Sylvania makes a decent LED strip light. 2.1 watts for a 22" fixture and it comes with a jumper to connect up to 10 in a row. They are not dimmable.

 

[pybyr]

Sylvania makes a decent LED strip light. 2.1 watts for a 22" fixture and it comes with a jumper to connect up to 10 in a row. They are not dimmable.

In concept, LED's are dimmable- but not with a normal dimmer switch (you'd need pulse width modulation). You might be able to rig a full brightness/ half-brightness arrangement if you set up an AC transformer feeding a bridge rectifier, with a single diode, switched in and out, between the transformer and the bridge rectifier.