Lights

Reply to: I don’t know about these specifically, but make sure your lights are dimmable - and they should actually dim significantly, not just a tiny bit like many LEDs. Good suggestion by someone earlier about the diffuser so you don’t see the individual lights, they’re annoying. I personally prefer 2700k LED lights - the 3000k ones are not flattering generally and everyone looks kind of ghostly or pasty. Whichever color you get, I prefer when the tones of the bulbs in the room match - so you shouldn’t get really white undercabinet lights with warm white light bulbs in your kitchen pendants, for example. Keep the tones the same in the lighting so it isn’t distracting.

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Reply to: Have you searched the advice forums on the subject? Lots of posts about LED under cabinet lighting. If I recall correctly 3,000k is a standard recommendation for them and WAC was one of the recommended brands. We used Inspired LED (also recommended on here) after unsuccessfully trying one of the brands from HD - they kept tripping the circuit, so we returned and sent our floor plan and pics to Inspired LED and they (quickly) sent back an estimate with all details and there was a lot of back and forth communication to ensure the plan was complete - all positive and quick exchanges via email. When we were ready, I called with the estimate # and paid and they shipped everything out the next day and we were ready to go the next week.

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Reply to: I love the Luxbar lights! The quality of the light is perfect and we actually use the lights as task lighting rather than accent lighting. We placed the bars toward the front of the upper cabinets so it lights up more of the countertop area. I chose the warm 2800K lights which is a nice warm color. I also did not pay extra for the dimmer transformer because I didn't feel that I needed to dim the under cabinet lights. My electrician was able to locate the transformer in our basement near our electrical panel so I didn't have to worry about finding a place for it in a cabinet. My electrician also used these white plastic covers to hide the cords which worked out nicely. I priced out a lot of different lights and components and found that the Luxbar were the best value for my needs and kitchen layout. I ordered mine through SuperBrightLeds. One of the bars I ordered was not working properly and the company replaced it for me very quickly. I also spoke with them over the phone before ordering and they helped me select the correct mounting clips, transformers and connection cords that I needed. Here are a few photos of what the lights look like and how they were installed. I'll add another photo of what they look at night.

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Reply to: this is the under cabinet lighting we went with. We found it at affordablequalitylighting.com. It doesn't create the pinpoints of light and has a very thin profile.

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Reply to: Hafele has several aluminum channels that are made to recess. Some come in specific lengths with lights already in them, several are designed for use with the tape. For 3/4" thick bottoms there is one that lays flat and protruded 1/16", another tilts slightly toward the backsplash so it sits proud 1/4" at the front. All come with diffusers. They also have several pucks that recess. The hard part with recessed is locating the wires. AS LWO suggested there are a number of nice looking ones that can be exposed. I just finished a white high gloss slab project where we had the doors set lower than the box, ordered solid stock with a bevel on the back, set the solid stock behind the doors and mounted the light rail to it. Advantage is easy and simple installation, clean look both open and closed, cleaner and cheaper than recessing the bottoms of the cabinets. Downside- you give up 3/4 to 1" in height inside the cabinet and of course you have to be working with a company that does that.

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Reply to: Thanks everyone for your thoughts. I don't mind the lights showing a little bit. If we do go with the tape lights, we'll definitely plan on diffusers. It looks like we're going RTA, so routing before install should be simple. Somewhere I saw that Hafale has a very shallow (1/4") LED puck which I was planning to include in some floating shelves in the family room. In the kitchen cabinets I wonder how I would route wires from multiple pucks through each cabinet without creating a mess? I'll have to investigate how they would install. I just got an email back from Environmental Lighting, suggested above by schicksal. They have a couple shallow channels that work well for recessing.

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