if you do it yourself, a good 300 watt transformer runs about 180 dollars, the wire is about 50 cents per foot, the xenon bulbs and holders were a few dollars each, then the tracks are around a dollar a foot. These are very rough numbers - i would figure less than 400 dollars to do a kitchen with 24 xenon lights.

the issue with the cost is labor. it is a tedious task - not hard - just a little time consuming. If the elctricians did it all - it would have cost me a bundle.

I had the electricians run me a switch leg the place where the transformer would go - which i put in the cabinet below the kitchen sink. I also had them run the low volatge wires - one for each cabinet segment - to that same spot. Then I did the rest. They look fantastic - worth the work.

We had the electrician put a switched outlet in our upper cabinets and a seperate one above them.

After closing, we bought a simple rope light, plugged it in and screwed it down to the top of the cabinets with the supplied clips. Voila, up lighting for $20 plus the charge for the electrician to install the switch. Just make sure the outlet is very close to the cabinets or inside, crown on your cabinets helps hide too.

Under counter was a little more involved, $30 at HD or Lowes gets 5 halogen discs. Drill hole up through cabinet to run the wire to the outlet, plugs in like the rope light (don't install the supplied switch). The involvement is in screwing the three (per disc) screws into the bottoms of the cabinet. Don't use a drill, do it by hand because the screws are tiny and fragile. It's just not a comfortable position.

Still cheaper than almost any other under/over cabinet lighting options. After the electrician's work, it took me about 1 hour for the up lights and 2 hours (I'm slow and deliberate with spacing) on the down lighting.

I've done this on 4 banks of cabinets in three houses now.

Why doesn't anyone use the flourescent light strips under cabinets anymore? They are cooler, inexpensive, very energy efficient and give off plenty of light. I have one in my present house that is on 24/7. In 20 years we've replaced it once.