fluorescent under cabinet lighting - all on or additional switch?

17 years ago

The planning and progress for my kitchen remodel has been ever so slow but cabinetmaker and contractor have finally been hired. The info I get from talking with both of them is that "most people" go Xenon for under cabinet lighting. When I went shopping, the only working display at a lighting store that allowed a comparison between fuorescent and halogen/Xenon strip or puck lights had pretty much sold me on the fuorescent. Fluorescent just seemed to give more light.

The layout for my kitchen will have cabinets on 2 opposite walls, so will have 2 corner cabs with a window in between. My kitchen is not large. I am not sure of the exact distance between these two cabinet walls at the moment but oven door and dishwasher door would almost touch if opened down at the same time. My designer strongly recommended having all the cabinet lights come on with the flick of one switch. The contractor strongly recommends that the lights for the two opposite walls be controlled with two separate switches. I am not sure if cluttering my backsplash with another switch gives me enough benefit to go that way. Anyone have a similar situation and how did you do it, all-on or separate switches? Any thoughts on pros or cons of the two possibilities?

Featured Answer

oruboris

17 years ago

I'm a fan of multiple switches for ceiling lights so you can keep adding [or subtracting] light unil you have the feel you wan't. Dimmers are fine, but limit you a bit on choice of bulbs.

But unless you can think of specific times when you'll want only some undercab lights on, I'd keep them on one switch. Florescent undercab will take very little energy, so there won't be much savings to make up for the cost of the extra wiring and hassel of an extra switch.

I use undercabs in combination with overheads for task lighting, and on their own [no or little overhead] for mood lighting. Either way, I either have it all on, or all off.

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Comments (7)

alku05
17 years ago
We have a large kitchen and our UC lights are controlled with one switch. We already have no less than 8 light switches, so I just couldn't justify putting another in.

I couldn't think of any time where I would see it as an advantage to have one side off. The only drawback I can think of is the extra electricity that runs the other side of the kitchen's UC lights. However, like you, we also have fluorescent UCs, so that electricity usage is less than most people's xenons or halogens
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sue_ct
17 years ago
Depending on how big the kitchen is (although you don't think it is big at all) and the layout, it may be easier for him to wire it one half at a time to different switches. Maybe it is more difficult run the wire continiously around doorways, open areas of wall that would then require drywall patching, etc. Even if you had multiple switches let him know that they would have to be together and in no way would it be convenient to walk across the room to turn on the rest of the lights. Do it right or find someone else. It sounds like they are trying to cut corners for some reason. Was the bid much lower than others you got? By the way, I am having flourescent UC lights installed and my electrician felt one switch was the only thing that made sense - he pointed out that each one has an on off switch on it as well and if you wanted to turn a couple of for some reason, you could do so on the fixture itself.

Sue
meg711
17 years ago
We have all our UC flourescent lights on one wall switch but, like Sue ct, each fixture has its own toggle switch so we can have one light on or only some of them on. With five UC fixtures, having a wall switch for each one wasn't a consideration.
natal
17 years ago
All of my under cabinet fluorescents have toggle switches. Not sure if that's a feature I'll use or not. All the lights under the painted cabinets are on one switch, but I put the 2 on the cherry hutch (opposite wall) on a separate switch. We're not in the kitchen yet, but I have a feeling I'll leave the hutch lights on more than the others. I'm glad I have that option.
3katz4me
17 years ago
All the UCL I've ever had - fluorescent or xenon - had individual switches on the fixture. If you have that I'd say okay to have one switch - since you could turn some off if you really wanted to. Other than my new kitchen, I've always had all UCL on one switch. This time I have one that isn't on a wall switch at all. It's the only one on that side of my kitchen between ovens and fridge and I wanted to be able to have that on by itself.
mondragon
17 years ago
My undercabinets are on separate switches, one on each side. If I could do it over again I'd put them on the same switch by the doors with the overhead lights.