Have you considered linear lighting? A number of companies make them including Kichler, Seagull, Juno, etc. The whole set-up is a bit more expensive, but it does have a low profile, allows for a lot of design flexibility and is very nice. I've seen a number of photo's here with it but I can't seem to hit the right search words to find one right now. Just google linear cabinet lighting and check the images - you'll see some examples.

Hope this helps!

I had the same problem...I couldn't find good info on lighting. My husband talked to an electrican who recommended track lighting.

We just installed Kichler track lighting last night. We LOVE it! My husband installed it in less than 1 hour. It's basically a track with a low voltage wire that goes in the track. You then push in the lights where ever you want them. If you don't want that many, you take a light out...if you need more light you stick more in. They are all wired to a transformer and I hit one switch and they all come on.
It was pricey,(imo) but I believe well worth it.

Picture from last night, we just had the cabinets put in yesterday so don't mind my plywood counter...
It's not as blinding as it looks in the second picture. It's the perfect amount of light

We have the Juno under cabinet lights and I love them, they are slim and put out a lot of light. I opted for the individual round lights in the Juno bar, instead of just a solid bar light. I have the lights like Laurielep above has but inside my cabinets and I also love those (mine are by Seagull).

Good luck!

Kat :)

nkkp ~ I will use linear in my search onine...thanks.

laurielep ~ Where did you purchase them? They look so nice at night...wow! I love it. Can I get them at Lowes or Home Depot? About how thick are they? They don't look like they stick out below the cabinet. I like the idea of having that flexibility to add or take away. Thanks for the great pics.

Lesmis ~ Same ?, can I get the Juno at Lowe's or Home Deopt? I really want something super slim. Thanks.

Janjan my Lowe's was only able to order Kichler, not Juno so I got them from Rexel (I'm in MD). They didn't have them at my local Rexel so they had them shipped free of charge to the location nearest me and they arrived the following day by noon! They were great to work with. I picked the Juno brand because they had built in transformers for the lights I picked and since the electrician had already been out and we hadn't planned ahead and asked for transformers in those areas they were my best choice for lighting that could be "line" wired or direct wired. They weren't cheap but I had read great things about them, they aren't supposed to get as hot as some other cheaper brands and I've found that to be true.

Kat :)

Here is a link that might be useful: Rexel Electrical

Have you thought about LED linear lighting. We manufacture under cabinet lighting in custom lengths up to 12'. Our LED fixtures take minutes to install. We offer two different color temperatures: 3500K Warm White and 6500K Cool White. We are now being tested in a few Home Depot stores. Feel free to email and I will send you some literature.

I have NSL xenon - I like it.

How wide is that cabinet to the right of your stove?

I also have the linear lights  Seagull or Juno  donÂt remember which one. One of the advantages is that you can dime these, so I can have full task lighting when I need it, and soft mood lighting when I want that instead. I will tell you though, they throw out a lot of heat  which doesnÂt bother me in the least  I would definitely buy these again. I just wanted you to know in case you had an issue with that. :-)

Back when I was a regular member of this forum, this was a hot topic. Maybe it always is :-) Anyway, I remember having discussions about the placement of these lights. Many argued that they should be placed to the front of the cabinet instead of against the wall which has always been the standard. The argument was that when using these lights as task lighting, you want the light above the task! This made a lot of sense to me and this is indeed how we installed them. I would do this again too.

jan_jan we purchased the lights, wire and strips from an electrician DH knows and we had to buy the transformer online.
I just googled Kichler and all of it came up. The light bulbs made my eyes pop out when I saw the price. You can only get a box of 10 and they are $75. Hopefully they last a while. They are xenon bulbs so they should last. We have 10 installed and I think on the transformer DH installed he said we can have up to 15.

The strip and the wire is about 1/4 inch and the lights themselves are about 2 inches long...if that.
If you want I can take a picture of what it looks like under there tomorrow.

Another NSL Xenon undercab. fan here. I considered linear fluroscent because they come in a low profile, but my lighting guy suggested the xenon and I'm very happy with them. They have a hi-low rocker switch, but one toggle switch turns them all on. Very little heat and nice, warm light. I suggest mounting your lights as far forward to the front of your cabinets as possible. I met a bit of resistance from the electrician ("We always mount undercabinet lights at the back of the cabinets."), but I wanted the light as near to my work area as possible, and I'm not working at the back of the counter.
{{!gwi}}From Lighting

Might not be slim enough (they are about an inch high) but we went the inexpensive route with these Westek Designer Series Xenon units from AmerTac. They are plug in or direct wire (so line voltage - no transformer or special dimmer) and dimable. We got them at Rona but Lowes sells them in the US. My Mom lives in a high rise so lighting improvements were limited (ceiling wiring\conduit is put right into the slab at the time of construction) and these are a favourite new addition to the kitchen that cost very little. I looked at Kichler and Seagull but found them too pricey.

laurielep ~ don't worry about a picture those were great. Thanks for all the info. this is all new to me so I need to look at some of them to get a better idea.

lesmis ~ there is a store not too far from me...thanks for that link. :)

Jeri~ I think I will put them in the front of the cabinet good advice. Also I like the idea of a dimmer.

Coffeehaus~ love your backsplah! :) Okay, I love your cabinet lights too. I like the low profile idea and I keep seeing and hearing xenon so I need to look into that brand further. Yes, I will mount just like you did. Thanks.

Wow! This is a great site. Thanks for all the wonderful info. I need to go check all these out now and pick one...we are ready for the lighting and they are just waiting on me to pick. :)

caryscott ~ I love the light that thos put out. I also like that they are direct wire and love the idea that they are inexpensive and I can get them at lowe's...and dimable. These might be the ones! My cabinet bottom is 7/8 of an inch so these might hang down too far. I'm going to check it out. Thanks for posting those picturs it really helps to see pics.

caryscott, do these get warm? Like jan, I'm in favor of the direct-wire and dimming ability, but I've been scared away from Xenon due to reports of heat build up. Is the dimmer control on each fixture, and

Thanks!