Under cabinet LED strip lighting warm vs. cool

10 years ago

We're getting LED strips for under our cabinets. They won't be stuck on, but screwed on. Our electrician recommends cool lighting, even though our pot lights are warm. Our counter tops are white (Frosty Carrina) and our back splash will be white subway tiles. He said he installed warm tones in a few kitchens, and they were horrible and the owners requested to remove them. Also, he said warm lighting will make our whites look yellow, and cool will make them look crisp and white.

He said we could go with warm, but I won't like it.

Any thoughts?

P.S. I'm an amateur food blogger so I will be taking food pictures.

Thanks!

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Comments (2)

David
10 years ago
You could look at setups with both cool and warm light before making the decision.

Some prefer having both the UCL and room lighting at the same color temp which in most homes is 2700k.

On the other hand, linear fluorescent UCL is usually >= 3500k.

I went with cool white (~ 3500k) for the UCL since the backsplash color went better with cool white than warm (2700k) and the UCL is used more often than the room lighting.

The color reproduction will depend quite a bit on the Color Rendition Index (CRI) of the light used.

With hue changing light strips, it is technically possible to have a color temp range from < 2500k to 5000k. Maybe something to think about as a future upgrade?
Ann
Original Author
10 years ago
Hi David - you've provided some great tips and a lot to think about! Our electrician already purchased our LED strips in cool white. I think that's what I agreed on, but then again that was weeks ago and I'm in full reno mode! Perhaps I can ask him to show me a strip of LED in warm tone. Thanks!
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