I had begun researching under cab lighting but by the time I had to decide I was already overwhelmed with decision fatigue so just went with the ones my contractor said he uses in almost all the kitchens he does. I'm not sure of the exact model # but they are Hampton Bay from Home Depot. They are on a dimmer. The frame surrounding the light is oval. They light the b/s nicely, so far I am pleased. I don't think they were expensive.

We just bought our undercabinet lights today. Ours are Utilitech from Lowes and they do not dim. There was one there that did dim, but i thought the light was pretty cool, not warm. I also thought the plug-in lights were cooler than the hardwired ones. It definitely helps to go and see them lit up so you can choose the light you like. I'm not interested in the undercabinet lights dimming, as long as the recessed lights are.

Thanks. I just got back from Lamps Plus where they recommended Xenon 32" lights. They dim but are quite pricey at $85 a piece and I need at least 6. They also recommended the halogen "puck" lights for the inset ones over the stove.
Does anyone have any experience with either of these lights?

OP, definitely check out and post on the GW's Lighting forum. There are plenty of posts about undercabinet kitchen lighting, and some experts who regularly respond to questions.

Sanj
Davidtay on light forum will respond with answers

I've had the Utilitech LEDs from Lowes - possibly the same ones as rocketmomkd. They've been installed for over a year. Although they do not dim, I've never found an occasion where I'd like them to dim - I turn them on many mornings and leave them on all day until the lights are shut off late at night. They seem to run very cool - you can put your hand directly on the lights after they've been on all day and they're barely warm to the touch. The Utilitech LEDs appear to be distributed by Kichler, BTW.

Helene

Hi sanjuangirl,

I'm sure there is more info. on the lighting forum, but here's my two cents: We are putting in LED undercabinet lighting with dimmers. LED lights can be purchased in "warm" and "cool" tones. We have the warm ones (just installed on Thursday), I think they look great, and they look like they will light the backsplash (not in yet). I think the LED's are more expensive, but the bulbs last about 15 years, so over time the cost evens out with other options. In CA (where I live), we have to meet title 24 energy requairements, so the choice is really flourescent or LED. I've heard that xenon and halogen lights tend to be hot (may heat up the stuff in the cabinet above). Also, the placement of the lights will affect how they light the backsplash. Good Luck!

Do you want direct-wire or low voltage? We wanted/needed direct-wire LEDs, so that we didn't have to put a low-voltage power supply somewhere. (The issue for us was that we hadn't planned on this, not that low-voltage lights are inherently worse.) Also wanted dimmable, and reasonably warm, lights. We went with Philips eW Profile Powercore (3000 K color temperature), but they are not yet installed.

Years ago my contractor installed halogen pucks. As with a couple things, he just went ahead with "the usual" items, often from Home Depot, without checking with me in advance. I guess I should have made things clear first.

Anyway, the halogen pucks were a nightmare. They got so hot they actually toasted the bottom of a loaf of bread in the cabinet above. They melted a bag of chocolate chips. Those suckers got uninstalled in a hurry. I forget the name of what I have now. It's those little rectangular bulbs that kind of "pin" into the socket. They are okay, although they get a bit too warm too, but not enough to replace them.

I put in dimmable LED pucks in our kitchen. 19 in total on 2 switches - one for inside the cabinets and one for the under cabinets.

The lighting isn't nearly as 'spotty' as appears in the photos with the bright spots on the backsplash. You can control this by moving the lights further towards the front of the upper cabinets - more over the center of the counter vs centered in the 12" cabinet depth which effectively places them 6" from the backsplash lighting up a 24" deep counter top.

I centered ours in the valence boxes because it looked better (can see the undersides of the cabinets when coming up the back stairs into the kitchen) and I wanted to light the backsplash as well.

Got them all from LED Lights Canada - whole kit was about $700 all in for the 19 lights and 2 dimmable drivers.

They're low voltage warm white (4000K) LED pucks. Produce nearly no heat which was very important to me being that they were going inside the cabinets and in boxed in valences under the cabinets.

I should have mentioned we obviously don't have LED pucks over the stove given the hood. It has 2 halogen lights which have a high/low switch (Ventahood).

The 10 recessed lights in the ceiling are halogens also on a dimmer. Honestly hardly ever use them - the LED pucks are enough to light up the kitchen and look nice with the glass cabinets.

Placement of the fixtures is an aesthetic that needs to be addressed.
Placing the fixtures close to the backsplash, while allowing greater light field, also allows the fixture to be readily within the field of vision of persons seated in the area.
While fixtures placed near the cabinet faceframe allows for better reflective disbursement while directing the light field to be substantially concentrated within the backsplash/countertop field.
There are several variations of "light rail" moldings, from a slightly wider lower section of faceframe and add-on moldings.
I prefer and use a 2-1/2" crown molding, which adds another arch. element.
Although I've installed numerous configurations of decorative fixtures and systems, I still recommend those from the mfg. who has, in my opinion, pioneered the balance of the R&D, along with CREE, in the field.

http://www.junolightinggroup.com/product_detail.asp?ino=9293&Sel_Id=17191&brand=1

OT - sorry. Toronto Tim, can you tell me the name, size and where you got your subway tiles? That's all, thanks.

@TorontoTim - We liked how you lit up the upper cabinets in your kitchen. About how much total time did the installation take you? The 4000k looks a little warmer with a yellowish tint. The recessed Halogen's are a great choice for kitchen downlights.

Puck lights are a nice addition to the kitchen, but from a lighting design perspective they do not do their job correctly. After many installations with puck and LED light bars, we found that the puck lights cause the light to scallop along the backwash and tend to not distribute the light evenly on the task surface. It's hard to control the optics on a circular LED board pattern to give an even distribution.

Here is a good link from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute ( one of the top Lighting Research Centers) I think may be beneficial to all.

http://www.lrc.rpi.edu/programs/solidstate/assist/pdf/undercabinet1.pdf