After you get your electrical estimate come back and we'll talk plug in strips.

We did it ourselves, But let me warm you it was a PIA.
I had to snake my arm through insulation, wood, etc...
to get the wires behind the backsplash and down to
past the lower cabinetry. Luckily for me the electrical
box for my house is in the basement just below my kitchen.

My counters were not yet in. Thank heavens as I dropped
tools all over my plywood tops and cabinetry. Insulation
was a pink nightmare along with holes in the walls.
Lots of ows, ouchs and oh S&%# cam out of my mouth as I
fought with this project. Would I do it again? You bet!
I LOVE my undercab lights.

~boxer

Wires are not so bad.

Yikes, Boxer! That doesn't sound fun. My electrical box is in the garage, which is not even close to the kitchen. Did I read somewhere that there are plug in lights that can be linked together so you only have a few that are actually plugged in? How many can you connect per one plug in?

Sometimes you have to be a little inventive and imaginative.
As a for instance,. Above your cooking appliance you may also have a venting appliance, that is plugged into a recepticle in the cabinet where it is mounted.

Say you were planning to use low voltage xenon fixtures and/or systems, such as the JUNO T-12, or pucks, or Kechler strip fixtures.
A transformer could be plugged into the recepticle and the LV output cabled through the cabinets to the fixtures.
Or cabled across the kitchen behind crown moulding.

Just some thoughts.

Hi Maclaynsaunt,
I only needed to wire one set of lights to the box in
my basement. The rest are connected as as mentioned by
Snooby above. They are all on a dimmer switch. They go
along with my inside cab lighting accents too. I love the
soft warm glow of the lights when dimmed in the evenings.

You will need to get a wire from the box to the kitchen.
There are some great books on electrical wiring that
I would recommend reading. And of course in your state
you may need a permit for this and licenced electrician.
~boxer

Here is a link that might be useful: Here is a link instead of a book

Yes, there are flourscents that train together and you only need to plug one of them in. I got mine at Menard's for less than $20 each. It will say on the package how many you can hook together. My outlet is wired so that they all come on with a switch but I can also run each indepenently with the switch on each light. Flip the main switch for all of them or go around and turn off the ones I don't want on. I like them all on. Makes it like daylight and in the middle of winter who doesn't need more daylight!

There are a number of styles at Ikea--fluorescents and puck lights both--that daisy chain and can be plugged in from an outlet, including spacers and extenders of various sorts. In old kitchen we had a power strip behind the refrig that they connected to.

We just (well- back in August) replaced our counter tops and shopped for UCL for months - trying to decided how and what to install. we are now in the process of installing the UCL and we're using LED. They are strung together and are dimmable. We have an OTR microwave with a cabinet above it where there is a outlet (recepticle?) anyhow, we have inline switches that turn them off and/or dim them. All plugged into the one outlet. Very nice. They were somewhat costly, but cheap to operate. Roughly 14 feet of lighting will be like 35-40 watts. AND being LED they should last 10+ years. Here is the website I ordered them thru -

Here is a link that might be useful: LED light bars

We did LEDs too. 2 sets (8 strips) from Ikea. They are plugged into the spare socket above the OTR microwave and they are attached to a wireless light switch mounted under a cabinet. $100 total and super bright. I can't imagine a better, brighter setup. And I can't imagine paying an electrician to wire up a better deal. Good luck!

mac

Before you decide on some of the inventive ideas above - determine the specs on lighting & your cabs to see if lighting will be hanging below the bottom of the cab.

Great point Jejvtr,
I had not even thought to mention that. And that was
a big issue for me. I did not want some ugly thing
attached under my very flush cab uppers. No trim under
my cabs.
~boxer

Hardwiring undercabinet lighting is much easier if done in conjunction with a new backsplash. You can make whatever holes you need in the drywall sinces repairs will be hidden behind the b/s covering.

Oh ok I should mention that we have 1" trim on the bottom of the upper cabs to hide the light bars. and they are around 1/2" high so they are totally hidden. and they have brackets you can mount straight or at a 45 degree angle toward the backsplash.

You've got me convinced to do the plug in strips. Now I am trying to decide between, LED, Xenon , etc. I know I definitely want to connect as many as I can. Don't want it to be too bright white or too yellowish. I also don't want a blue tint as some LED have. I guess I just want a soft white. Any suggestions?

I was at Lowe's and Home Depot today. Those little lights sure are spendy! I know it will be worth it. I just want the under cabinet light fairy to come do it while I am sleeping one night!

Here is a link to a diagram of the color temperature. This is a company I was going to order from but decided to go with environmentallights.com because their tech support is so good. anyhow, we ordered the 4000K lights called neutral white. They are a nice bright white light, no bluish tint but not like incandescent either. Get lights around 2700-3000K if that's the look you want.