Help.. Light rail and the correct backsplash height?

17 years ago

Hi, how high are your light rail / valance? (trim to cover under cabinet lights) and the actual distance between counter and cabinets?

Here is my dilemma, I will have 18.5" between counter and bottom of upper cabs. My light rail is 2.25", leaving me 16.25" opening. Is this OK? I was hoping to fit the standup mixer but that is about 1/2" too tall. Do you think my light rail is too thick?

Didn't want the upper cabs any higher because it starts to seem hard to reach.

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Comments (5)

Jodi_SoCal
17 years ago
Our light rail is 1.25" high and the distance from the counter to the light rail is 15.75". Counter to bottom of cabinets is 17".

Jodi-
boysrus2
17 years ago
My light rail is the same size as yours as well as the opening from the counter to the bottom of the light rail.

Here's my problem - I can't sit my KitchenAid Mixer on the counter as there's not enough height. I am planning to have my light rail replaced with a thinner one as this doesn't work for me. I don't have a walk-in pantry or appliance garage to store the mixer. It's heavy so I don't want to move it around and I do use it.

As far as the light rail's appearance, it looks fine. Just consider any tall items you're going to have on the counters.
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charlikin
17 years ago
I also need to decide about a light rail. I didn't order it with my cabinets because I didn't want to lose any of the distance between the cabinet and the countertop. I thought I'd wait to see if I needed it after the undercabinet lighting went in.

And that was when I thought I was going to have a full 18" to play with! As it turns out, they had to install my upper cabinets slightly lower to accommodate a concrete soffit on one side of my kitchen. (I had hoped they could "notch" the tops of the cabinets to fit around the soffit, but that was considered a bad idea.) So instead I'm starting with only 16-1/2" of space, and I'm *really* reluctant to add the light rail.

Does a short one (like that 1-1/4") really hide anything? Or did you just put it up to be decorative?
PoorOwner
Original Author
17 years ago
Hi, the light I ordered is a fluorescent .75" x 1.35" high, I guess I could put it on it's side (.75") but I would loose about half the light.

So I will have to wait until I get the light and see how different height of light rail look. Kitchen Aid mixer I have is about 16.75" but I would say 17" just to be safe.
PoorOwner
Original Author
17 years ago
Hi, I have tested this today, a 1" tall rail is not enough to cover the light under the cabinet, when I sit down in the dining room I can see the tubes, this is not good because the tubes are so bright. I also don't want to put the tubes on the sides since it is wasting light.

The extra inch of light rail makes all the difference. I will have to give up that one inch of backsplash clearance, but it is worth it.