Undercabinet lighting is my favorite light in my new kitchen, and I'm using it far more than the pretty pendants I spent hours agonizing over in the Rejuvenation catalog. It's just right for midnight snacks; first cup of coffee, can't face bright lights yet; dreary gray day, want something on to brighten up the place; indirect party/entertainment lighting. My kitchen is open to FR/TV room, and undercab lights are perfect for leaving a small light on somewhere that won't interfere with the TV. I had the same qualms you did, and GW'rs talked me into it, so now I hope to pass it on :)

Make sure you get (dimmable) xenon or (probably not dimmable) fluorescent, not (fire hazard hot) halogen. Search this forum and others for LED info but IMO the technology is not quite there.

I loathe it.
My mom got talked into it and loathes it.

I could go on, but I won't. It's personal opinion -- a choice. Certainly not "everyone" has it.

You don't have to have it. Why pay money and use resources to install something you don't value?

But if you see uses you love and are converted, go for it.

Me? I like a lamp.

Enjoy your city kitchen!

I'd have to agree. I currently have indirect uplighting from the tops of the cabinets and it works fine. When we redo, I won't be able to use that anymore (cabinets up to the ceiling), so I'll be doing undercab lighting instead. But if you like what you have, why change?

In order of functional importance of lighting-
1. UC lights
2. Underhood lights
3. recessed/ceiling lights
4. pendant/decorative lights

Simple answer why you need UClights - You need light on your cooking areas.

I agree with Pharaoh. You *definitely* need undercabinet lighting to illuminate the counter space where you will be using your very sharp knives. I have lived in apartments where there was sparse or no undercabinet lighting, and the shadows thrown by the ceiling lights made it downright dangerous to cut on a cutting board with no undercabinet lights. In my opinion you absolutely need them, and future purchasers will want them as well.

Thanks, all. I think you've convinced me. It is true I'll need some light that won't interfere when the family is watching tv while I'm in the kitchen (often, I'm sure) and about the shadows thrown by ceiling lights. I'll look into the xenon and flourecent choices. Now, to find some other places to cut back, then...
Thanks for your replies!

I never had it before but I decided to add it after seeing so many kitchens here with it. I'm SO glad I got them. I had no idea what I was missing! I love to cook in my corner now which is quite dark without the lights. It really adds a nice layer of light. I got fluourescent strips and bought warm bulbs for them.

We actually use our UC lights only sporadically- less often than once a week. But, when we do use it, it sure is nice to have it.

I think undercab lighting looks really pretty, esp when it highlights gorgeous backsplash tile.

That said, I do not have it and have never found it difficult to see what I'm doing. And I have a couple of friends who have undercab lighting and never use it. It's definitely a nice feature, but I wouldn't put it in the "essential" category.

I use mine very often when prepping stuff at the counters. Mostly in the evening, but occasionally on a less than bright and sunny day. I usually turn on the lights in our hood as well. That baby casts a wide shadow. I turn them off when we're eating though. Too much light for me when we're sitting at the tabletop/island.

We just got new granite countertops and a new backsplash. When we ripped off the old tiles on the old backsplash, we damaged the drywall and and the wall above the counters was open to the studs until the drywall got replaced. My DH said he asked me at the time if I wanted to add UC lghting and apparently I said no. It's funny, I don't even remember him asking me. Anyway, I have some really pretty glass tiles on my backsplash (along with tumbled marble)and they don't show up at night too well. Argh!!! If I could rewind, I definitely would put in UC lights!

You may not. We opened up our kitchen/living into a huge great room, and put in recessed halogen cans as well as xenon undercab lights. To tell the truth, we hardly ever use the undercab lights. The cans throw off so much light everything is well-illuminated. The only time we ever use the xenons is when we have company and need some indirect lighting. But we have the halogen cans on dimmers, so we just turn them down and have the same effect.

Our island, where we do most of our cooking and prep work is well lit with the overhead cans and the pendant lights. I would guess if you do most of your prep work on the counters under the upper cabs you'd want to consider undercab lights.

I don't have under cabinet lighting and I don't need it. I have recessed lights that run around the perimeter of the kitchen and shine directly over my counter tops which give me plenty of light in my prep areas. The lights also wash down over the front of the top cabinet doors which gives it a neat decorative look.

I had undercabinet and used it a lot during food prep and just for ambience. At the end of the evening, I'd turn on uc lights and turn off the harsh overheads (which also had a dimmer), since our family room was right off the kitchen. We could still see to go in and out and get snacks, but it wasn't so bright. Even if I didn't use them, I'm not sure I would loathe them. Unless I lamented the waste of money, maybe, but there are many things I am glad I have "just in case" that I may not use daily. Mine were not super expensive, and we were doing electrical anyway. Plus, my uc were xenon, giving off a nice light, not harsh. Made my whole kitchen look better.

We are having our UC lights installed TONIGHT and as of right this moment, I am still undecided on the issue. As others have said, I feel like my cans throw plenty of light. Not sure this UC thing is necessary.

PLUS - and if anyone can advise here (sorry to hijack) we have a flat screen TV in the corner and a UC light is planned for that corner. So, how will that work? Why illuminate the TV? And, will I be able to have both on at the same time? Will the light make the TV screen disappear?

I didn't bother with them since I never used the ones that were there before the remodel. I do have recessed cans directly above the counter so I think that will be plenty of light (and they are on a separate dimmer & switch) but we'll see (am still mid remodel).

It was funny... last night after I typed my response above, I was looking for some bills on my "planning desk", and it was late and dark in the kitchen. I reached over to switch on my UC and realized in this new house, I DON'T HAVE THEM! Had to turn on the 5 recessed can lights (no dimmer) to find what I needed. At midnight, THAT'S harsh! I liken it to having an office, either home or away, and you have overheads and a desk lamp. Their uses are different. Desk lamps for tedious work with no shadows and overhead for overall lighting the room.

UC lights are non-negotiable absolute MUST-have's IMO. They are not intended to illuminate the entire room, but rather gently and without shadows light up my work area. It also serves as ambient lighting in the evening. The UC lights also show off my pretty tile and granite! My head can cast a shadow on my work area from the recessed lights. The UC lights ensure I can read a recipe and see to work. I couldn't live without them! LOVE them! I believe you're better to put them in and use them only seldomly than to NOT put them in and wish you had.

All of our kitchen lights are on dimmers. We've found that the UC lights are the first ones on in the morning while we stumble to the coffee pot, and they're the last ones off at night. The only time I seem to use either of the 2 banks of can lights in the ceiling is when I am prepping or standing over the stove cooking. (no hood lights.. no hood for that matter). About 75% of the time, I don't even use the can lights when prepping. I am not sure why we use the UC lights so much more, but I'd venture a guess that it's because they're enough light for most tasks we do in the kitchen and they're usually on, and we're too lazy to walk to the other side of the island to turn on the can lights? hehe We rarely have the UC lights turned up to full power, and when we do, we turn them down as soon as we're done doing whatever we were doing that required the add'l light. They're halogens, and if we leave them at full power for very long - things get pretty warm! It was NOT one of those items that I obessessed over, and wish I had - because if I did, I wouldn't have chose halogens (pretty much, I let the electrician choose, a decision I've come to regret!). The light is great, but the heat they can muster up is a real downer. At any rate, I'm sold on having UC lights regardless.

I'm very indecisive, and so I've become "Queen of the Mock-Ups." (When I was deciding on pendants, I had rope-and-paper mock ups hanging in my kitchen at different heights/spots for weeks.) If I were unsure about the lighting, I'd go to a place like Walgreens (drugstore) and grab a few of those battery operated, stick-up lights. Then you can see how much you like the UC lighting.

I had it in my last kitchen, and loved it. But I probably won't have it in this kitchen.

Francy

Thanks again everyone for your responses. I think that I am still convinced that it will be useful to use when I want to light the kitchen but not interfere with tv watching in the living area, as a few have suggested. And, I'll have the added benefit of task lighting, clear recipe reading, and ambient light.

The need for under-cab lighting seems to be situation specific. Our kitchen has no windows--only a glass sliding door. The ceiling light is perfect for working at the island, but we couldn't function without under-cab lighting over the sink and stove.

I did what bayareafrancy suggests - before demo I got a couple of cheap UC lights at HD and put them up to see how I liked them. That was enough to convince me!

one other thought....

My UCs were on a single wall switch. That made a big difference in convenience when we turned them on and off. I could have used the switch under the cabinet on each of them, but that would mean three different switches, and I'm sure I wouldn't have done all three, therefore taking away from the pretty look and convenience. Having them working off of one switch helped us use them a lot more, IMO.

Not that the OP needs more convincing, but I didn't have them in my old kitchen and hated that fact...it was one of the first things I told my DH we were going to add in the new kitchen! When standing at the counter, if you don't have an overhead light in front of you, the counter is shadowed and difficult to work on, especially at night (we have a large window in the kitchen for daylight).

The only thing 2 things I don't like about them are (1) the electrician connected the inside cabinet lights to the same switch as the UC lights! I didn't realize he had done that until it was too late to do anything about it! and (2) like BoxieBabe, I have the hot halogen lights...I wish they were cooler lights (although, I've heard Xenon aren't that much cooler...hearsay, though!)

I also did not agonize over the lighting plan and I should have! Most of the lights are well placed, but those two things about my cabinet light do occasionally annoy me--but not nearly as much as not having UC lights at all used to!

I've only cooked in the new -- not yet finished -- kitchen for two nights but so far I'm loving the UC lights, which we didn't have in the old kitchen.

The new kitchen has more light than the old but even so the UC light over my main prep area is wonderful. And it's the light my husband turns on when he gets up before dawn to make coffee. And it tends to be the one we're leaving on at night to just give enough light to get a glass of water or a snack.

Our UC's are low-profile fluorescents from Pegasus, if that matters. Not dimmable but with a warm bulb, a nice light.

Would never want a kitchen without them, probably the most used lights in the kitchen.