You mean under cabinet lighting right - not under counter? If so your contractor is a dork. Lots of people have undercabinet lighting - use it all the time - and wouldn't be without it - including me.

Which contractor did you tell? Your GC, or your electrical contractor, or what?

I agree the answer makes no sense.

Lots (maybe most) people here who have done kitchens have had one form or another. Did you search here? There is quite a lot of discussion of this subject. You can also go over to the lighting forum. (But I have had less than great results in getting answers there.)

You probably want either Xenon or fluorescent lights. Halogen lights in any form, including pucks, are thought to generate too much heat. Some like the fluorescent, but others don't. The xenons may look better but they take more power and generate more heat. (But less than halogen.)

The fluorescents come in enclosed fixtures, often only an inch or so high. The xenons come that way too, but they also come in "linear" form. That is just a thin strip containing wires that you attach under the cabinets. Little sockets holding one or two bulbs can be snapped on to that anywhere. These are usually mounted just behind a "light rail" that hangs down from the bottom front of your cabinets.

We did a DYI undercabinet lighting with halogens from HD under part of our cabinets. I use it ALL of the time and I love it.

We are redoing our kitchen and I'm having under cabinet lighting installed under all of our cabinets because I can't imagine not having it now.

Can't he run to HD or Lowes and get some?

I just installed LED lights under my cabinets. There is very little heat and super energy saver. 29.99 home depot , HAMPTON BAY. Iinstalled 3 on one side about 8 foot counter and 2 on the range side . Had one left over stuck it up on top of center cabs . LOOKS awsome on bottle collection ,take them out of package , have help , pug em in and position them , just hold to cab. Take time installing.... A DRIILED HOLE IS FOREVER.......

doberman, I'm unfamiliar with the LED lights from HD.
Do they come in various lengths like fluorescent?
Do they give off a lot of light (I need a lot!), and what color is the light?
(I don't care for the color of the light from my LED flashlight and can't imagine it as an undercabinet light.)

Yes, folks, there is such a thing as under counter lighting. It can be used to light the face of the wall under the counter. Think bar tops over a tiled wall rather than kitchen cabinets.

I've seen this application recently at a restaurant. They had both rope downlights that washed down the face of the wall and some uplights (halogen?) that glowed through the granite.

The downlighting was very nice. The uplighting was not. The lights actually made the granite HOT.

So if the OP really means under *counter* lighting, the electrical contractor may have had some bad experiences and doesn't want to have anything to do with such a thing.

However, if the OP really means under *cabinet* lighting, then she needs to get her terminology straight.