For undercab lighting I wanted good lighting since my aging eyes seem to need more light these days. I opted for fluorescent. I can't tell you exactly how they are working since we are mid-reno at the moment and I haven't moved in yet. What I did to decide was to look at lighting show rooms in our area of which there were 3. We found one showroom that had a mini kitchen mockup. They had xenon (2 configurations), fluorescent and LED lights all mounted under the same cabinet set up. You could turn each type off and on to get a feel for how much light there was and how it looked. Based on that display, I chose fluorescent since to my eye it gave the best light for working and for my needs. The undercab lighting in my kitchen is for function only, not for anything else so not being able to dim was not an issue. I was told I could actually get dimmable fluorescents but the cost was very high and I went with ordinary. Everyone's needs and likes are different. Trying calling some lighting show rooms and see if you can find one with a comparison display. I was struggling with what to do and when I actually saw the lights in action the decision was easy.

I have 7' of fluorescent undercabinet, 6 recessed spots (on 2 switches) and a 5 light hanging fixture over the island in a 9x14 working kitchen. All but the undercabinet are dimmable which is fine. I think the combination of types of light are best, especially where natural light is minimal. I use different combos of lights at different times for different moods and rarely use all simultaneously. I probably lose some of the effect of the light since most of one long wall is window/french door and 2 skylights which reads mostly black at night and the other long wall is mostly open to the dining room so there is no wall to bounce light.

I think you'll be fine with recessed and uc fluorescents but I would consider adding either a pendant or be sure you have enough well placed recessed.

I don't know anything about xenon lighting, but we have recessed halogen lighting in our dark family room. The cans are spaced about 3.5 ' apart in the 8' ceiling, and there are 8 in the room, which is an L-shaped 240 sf. The room is very nicely bright with them on. Maybe xenon is similar in its brightness?

We used to have a fluorescent tube undercabinet lamp and it provided good lighting to the workspace nearby.

Xenon under cab lights get really hot, so things on the lowest shelf melt (butter, chocolate... messy!) and the transformer gets hot too. I took mine (retrofit) out again, seemed to me like a fire hazard waiting to happen. Anyone who wants a set of 3 Xenon lights can have 'em for the cost of shipping!

kevinw - what brand are your lights???? Or does that make a difference. We are looking at Kitchler lighting (xenon) and they claim they are not too hot!! Should we believe them????? The more I read the more I wonder about fluorscent lighting. It did not appear to give out a lot of light, but I don't need it except for task lighting. Have lots of natural light. Any feed back????

I don't know what brand they are, sorry - it doesn't seem to say on them and I can't find the box. These are from about 2 years ago so maybe they have improved them - but I would ask to see the lights working and see what you think (especially after they have been on for a while).

Right now I'd go with fluorescents, the color rendering has improved quite a lot in the last few years, or wait for LEDs which are developing rapidly.

We had many of the same concerns as you, gardenz. Our kitchen gets little direct natural light, and we wanted really good even lighting. We ended up with three light sources: undercabinet lights, can (recessed) lights, and pendants over the island. The undercabinet lights are wonderful. They are Ambiance low-voltage linear lights from Sea Gull. They give a lovely light and don't get very hot (they are xenon). We didn't put them on a dimmer but may do so in future. They are really wonderful; I read enthusiastic mentions of them on GW and am so happy we put them in.

We also put incandescent lights, on a dimmer, every couple of feet over the counters. Between the cans and the undercab lights (which are mounted at the front edge of the cabs, so the light is sort of directed to the back of the counter), the counters have a nice even light. We are thinking of replacing the incandescent bulbs with dimmable CFLs but haven't tried this yet. (LED lamps are available, but at $100 a pop!)

Finally, we got pendants with standard incandescents, again with the goal of replacing with dimmable CFLs. I just don't like halogen's heat and spotlight-ness; it's a very personal thing, though.

Hope this helps!

Becky

Our window in the kitchen is on the north side and is shaded by trees so not too much light. My DH put in 3 types of lighting in our kitchen.
Recessed lights in ceiling- we have incandescent bulbs so they can be on a dimmer switch.
Progress Hide-A-Lite xenon under cabinet lighting which does not get hot at all. The transformer is in basement. They are not dimmable.
Chandelier - on a dimmer switch.
They are on one triple switch plate next to the doorway so they can be turned on independently of each other.
We really like the amount of light that this arrangement provides. HTH Sue

Hope this link helps you-We just had our under cabinet lighting done-we used florescents. Our ceiling lights were done years ago and are 6 inch (I think). I love the new under cab ones and can't wait to see how they show off my new Soapstome counters.

http://s255.photobucket.com/albums/hh140/fitzwilli/?albumview=link

We had many can lights and florescents under the cabinets and over. They were on different switches so we had 3 different options and the florescents come in cool or warm - it's amazing how different they look. Hope this helps.

kc

I am interested in getting undercabinet lighting installed, as my kitchen is really dark on one side, even with the overhead lights on. Who would I call to do such a job? A general contractor or a cabinet person? Would my local Lowe's store provide a service like this?

Champagne_Taste, I would call an electrician. They would be able to help you with which fixtures are the best for your needs. Or if you have an electric supply company near you they would be able to help.

Because you are dealing with electricity I would definitely want someone who is versed with pulling the proper wires and putting in the right switches, not to mention making sure which circuits you are adding the amps to are can take the beefed up wattage.

Hi,

When we had our kitchen remodeled recently we only thought there was one type of undermount lighting, the old noise energy saving tube like bulb.

Our kitchen designer recommended not to get the puck type undermount lights as they were very energy inefficient.

He recommended the compact fluorescent and they are working great. I know I am new here, but here's a link to a post on our blog about our kitchen lighting in case it helps. The picture of the undermound light is towards the end of the posting.

Cheers,
Dan

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen Remodeling - Part 8 - Lighting Selection

Thank you for the advice, fitzwilli. Much appreciated.

Re your question on recessed lights in the ceiling. I have them in my large kitchen. They DO light up the ceiling. They are very bright and a good choice for the kitchen. The other plus is that they require no routine cleaning. You can now get them so you can use compact flourescent bulbs in them to save energy, over the flood-type bulbs.

I have incandescent recessed and pendants ... fluorescents under the cabinets. The incandescents are dimmable, but I've yet to use that feature. The fluorescents are not and I can't imagine ever having the need to dim them. They are by far my favorite light source in the new kitchen! I keep them on all day. No heat output, energy efficient, and I love the natural light as opposed to the yellow glow from incandescents.

We usually dim our recessed lights in the kitchen once we are finished cooking or eating. Also first thing in the morning (I am usually up before the sun :-) ) I have the recessed lights on a low setting so my own eye's can adjust.

One thing we regret is that we didn't have the flourescent lighting on the top, yet the top, of the cabinets which do not touch the ceiling. In our kitchen (pictures from the link in my posting above)some of the cabinets go all the way up to the ceiling and others do not. It is a really nice effect. I wish that we had the florescents on top of the cabinets which do not go all the way to the ceiling as that would have been a very appealing light in the evening.

Dan

Our kitchen is similiar, not a lot of natural light. We used halogen recessed cans in the ceiling. You'd be shocked at how much light they can throw off, and they are not too concentrated in one spot.

Just make sure you have the right kind of reflectors in the can for more general wide lighting. They also do illuminate the ceiling from light that bounces back up.

We put halogen pendants over the island, but they are more spot, as they are concrete and only light the area below them.

All the halogens are on dimmers, so we can control the amount of light and heat they generate. On dimmers, halogens are very efficient and "green", using less electricity.

Under the cabinets, we put in xenon. They stay cooler. However, to be totally honest with you, we never have all the lights on at the same time. The halogens illuminate the kitchen so well I hardly ever use the undercab lights, even during meal preparation. The xenons usually come on when the halogens are off during a dinner party (we have a huge great room kitchen arrangement). They function more as mood lighting than anything else. If I did it over again, I'd probably even omit the undercab lights altogether.

This thread has been hugely helpful. We're mid-way through our remodel, and with the myriad of decisions to be made, I knew that I had not learned enough about lighting but hoped it would work out. Now I feel much more informed and able to "speak the language" a bit when I talk to the GC, designer and electrician. Thanks to all. A

If its not too late I wanted to chime in about a 3rd possibility on the "dimming" aspect. Our lights are not dimmable but each bank of lights has a 0-1-2 switch on it. Normally I leave it on 1, which is decent light and good for 90+% of the time but then if I am doing something I want brighter light to really see what I am working on I can flip the switch on the bank of lights right where I am working to 2 and get maximum illumination. I think its a perfect solution and actually easier than the dimmer since you always have the switch within reach when you need the extra light boost!