Yes, I have (as have many others on this board) from inspiredled.com. (Of course, I don't really know what you consider inexpensive, but I thought the price was extremely reasonable and the customer service was excellent)

I was just going to chime in about the folks at inspiredled.com, too (thanks, sjhockey). At the very least, email them with your pics and ideas/questions, and they're more than happy to work with you and provide a quote, complete with helpful diagrams and very specific pricing. Good luck!

inspiredled.com :)

Just an example of one of the diagrams/quotes I received from inspiredled, early on:

Well that makes it easy. :-) Love how they did the quote. I'm definitely going to give them a try.

Good luck -- Garrett was super helpful and patient with this newb!

What did you-all choose for brightness and color? Normal bright? Warm white? Just wondering if that's bright enough to work by in the kitchen.

Oh, and I heard back already. Should have a quote tomorrow.

I'm not sure what we got, but I'll see if I can figure it out. It's great task lighting.

That's terrific, CJ -- I hope they have good news for you. I don't have all my files handy, but I think we went with the Pure White (as opposed to the warmer white). However, at the time, we were thinking about getting matte black granite counters. Now that our light gray Calacatta Gold quartzite is in, the light is a bit stark/blue for me (even with the dimmer set at the lowest level). Before I pull the plug on a different white, I'll wait until our backsplash goes up. Feel free to have a conversation w/ them about types of light, and they'll steer you in the right direction.

Another InspiredLED.com fan! Cody was phenomenal for us. He ended up just talking to our electricians when they had questions. We had 4 areas to light and I think we spent around $650-$700 with them. ETA: we used warm white (3000K) which is the same as our can lights. Everything else was too blue.

I posted a few pics on this thread:

http://ths.gardenweb.com/discussions/3827918/anyone-have-light-strips-inside-cabinets

Got the design and quote today: about $370, with the bulk of it being a 2-way dimmer switch that will light both sides of our kitchen independently. $190 just for that. But my husband really likes the idea of it, so there you go.

I used Inspired LED as well. They were really great to deal with and even got my order out the same day when the electrician suddenly decided he needed the transformer right away. It was just over $200 for mine.

I just finished outfitting my kitchen with under the cabinet lighting this past weekend. I used Maxlite LED light bars that are super thin (.79" x .83") and very affordable. They are very similar to Nora lighting bars, but truly more affordable. I found both in a specialty lighting store locally, but purchased from beeslighting online. My cabinets are shallow, so they would probably disappear under yours.

Since both sides of my galley kitchen don't connect and I have a window in between one side, I would have either dealt with a multitude of holes left by an electrician and was quoted $500.

Instead, I came up with the plan to have outlets added above my cabinets, I ran cable through the front corner of my cabinets where you can't see, and put each outlet on a remote and dimmer. I can turn them on individually, each side, or all together on this remote, which is even better than the wall switch that was promised me for $500 + dry wall to repair throughout my ceiling and walls.

I tried out strips and other bars, but they either threw shadows across my counters or were very thick and easily seen.

Excuse the mess. Just made some holes to install the outlets above and working on walls/finished painting cabinets. This is with them dimmed half way. They are bright.

Did any of you Inspired LED folks get diffusers?

The guy who's helping me is a bit scattered. I asked about diffusers for these lights and he told me they were really not necessary. But now he's asking me if I looked at the diffuser info he sent and what I think. But if they're not necessary, I won't spend the money.

There are a couple other things he's been mixed up about--like he thought I was going to stop by. From Birmingham?

Steph, can you give me the thickness of the lights? I did like the ones from Home Depot but they were just a tad too big. I would still go that way if it would save money.

Oh wait--I can just look on the website tomorrow. I did look at Beeslighting yesterday, looking at the LARC6--but they are really expensive and I couldn't figure out what all components would be needed.

.79"w x .83" h, so yes less than a inch all around. What are the lights you have in the picture above?

Maxlite is the most professional looking sleek bars I've seen. They are also cheaper than anything you can find at HD or lowes. 12" for $27.93 is more than reasonable.

I purchased 3 x 12", 24", and 6" to connect to a 12". You can also choose from 2700K, 3500, 5000, bright, super bright. They are bright so I needed to connect a dimmer. Found the electrical cords cheaper on amazon. Only had issues with the 6" but beeslighting is sending me another, told me to throw it away.

Are you hard-wiring to one switch?

Maxlight has a diffuser, which I think is necessary

The link to the HD light is in my original post above. That's just the 9" but I got 18 and 24 inch lights too. They are plug-in but our electrician was going to hardwire. What I liked about them--and still do--is that they each had their own rocker switch so I could turn on just one if I wanted.

Since we have a galley kitchen, I was asking our electrician to get 2 transformers so each side could be lit independently--but of course with the HD lights, I guess one transformer would have been sufficient since I could turn off whatever I didn't want on.

So I take it yours don't have switches ON the lights? Their hard-wired and would work with a switch. That's the part that is costing so much with the Inspired LED system. $189 for a special switch...well here, I'll give you the sales pitch from the horse's mouth:

"I completely understand the sticker shock, but keep in mind this is a system unlike any other on the market – dual dimmable zones from a single RF switch that doesn’t require batteries, coupled with not having to bridge the system together with a cable, slam dunk! Honestly, it’s not too much more expensive than hardwiring to a wall switch, maybe $50 more."

I don't fool with a switch. I have a remote programmed to turn them on individually, one side, or together. My LR lamp is on that remote as well.

If you want a switch on the light, they have an accessory you can buy that connects, so you can toggle it at the light to your hearts content, but I don't see why anyone would mess with a manual switch if they can just push a button.

That's just what I'd like. So what kind of remote is it? Sounds like the same thing the Inspired LED guy is selling. Did it cost you $190?

I gotta get to bed now so will continue discussion tomorrow!

Sorry, my lights aren't hardwired. I chose to use the plug-in option of this light, and I opted to use a outlet remote ($29 for 5 + 2 programmable remotes), which works even from another room. They are plugged into a outlet above the lip of my cabinets where you can't see. I attached a dimmer to the remote on the outlet, then the light to the dimmer at each location. took one afternoon to do it all.

A hardwired remote/system would put you back about $800-1K

I first had these connected to everything in my bedroom. Then figured this would be good solution for my wiring issue in my kitchen as well. The only downside is the clicking noise at the outlet when you use push the button, but that's just a relay clicking over. Good stuff.

http://www.amazon.com/Etekcity-Wireless-Electrical-Household-Appliances/dp/B00DQELHBS?ie=UTF8&psc=1&redirect=true&ref_=oh_aui_detailpage_o05_s00

My lights (from Lowe's, Utilitech) are only 1/2 inch thick, have the diffuser, individual rocker switches, are 3000k (most call that warm white but it is not yellow). My crew hardwired them in but they came with plugs; they are positioned at the front of the cabinets and give great task lighting and are not visible behind the light trim (frameless cabinets). I think they were dimmable too but I didn't install a dimmer for them. I used a 10% discount coupon when I bought them and also ordered via ebates for a further discount.

I can't find anything about CRI (color rendition index) on the inspiredled site. That makes me very nervous. Typically if an LED manufacturer or seller doesn't tell you the CRI it's because it is lousy. In food preparation areas I really won't want sub-90 CRI LEDs. Zombie looking food is not nice.

We have diffusers on our Inspired LED lights only on the lights in our double sided glass passthrough cabinets. We didn't want to see the tape lights through each side of the cabinet, so this was our best option. I couldn't do puck lighting at the top because I didn't do glass shelves.

CJ -- Maybe I'm just too jaded after an 18-month reno that hasn't gone smoothly, but I'd pop over to someone else at inspiredled, should you decide to stick with them. So many of us have received spot-on customer service, and it's a shame you're not experiencing likewise.

Agreed javiwa. Regarding the CRI, I have no idea but I know it's great task lighting and my food doesn't look zombie-ish.

Regarding Maxlite - I need light bars for another location. Does anyone know how many lumens a 48" bar would put out?

Maxlite lists lumens and CRI for all their products. Not sure why you are having trouble finding this info on the internet.

48" comes in 1384, 1970, and 1920 lumens. It looks like the 2700K has the highest CRI rating (96), at least for maxlite. Sadly no 3000K option. I went with 3500K for under the counter, my ceiling led bulbs are 3000K.

The CRI listed at environmental lights.com are all listed at 72, regardless of temp. I don't understand how this is measured because the maxlite's CRI's are significantly higher, but vary between temp.

http://www.maxlite.com/products/plug-and-play-led-lightbars#tab

Questions/comment:

For those who think I should get a different salesperson at Inspired, how would you suggest I do that? Just fill out the contact form and say, "Can I have a new guy?" ;-) But re-reading his emails, I guess he's okay. He missed a few things I said, but I think I missed a few things he said too.

raee_gw, I'd be really interested in seeing pics of your lighting. We have just over a half-inch lip to our cabinets, so they might work. I see they also come in a hardwire option for a little less $. (But now looking at the reviews, there are complaints that they're not well-made.)

rwiegand: the PDFs I was sent from Inspired LED on the light bars with diffusers both said the CRI was 83-85 for one type, 80 for another. I just emailed to ask what the CRI is on the "flex-strips" that are part of my quote. EDIT: he just got back to say the 12V DC flex strips are CRI 87. Not bad--at least as far as I've learned so far.

Steph: Do you think that wireless remote you posted above could work for my Inspired LED plan? That $190 remote is what's holding me up--even though my husband doesn't seem to mind the cost. I'll see if I can attach the plan I was given so you'll get an idea of what would be needed. (Since I'm not electrically inclined, I don't quite understand how your remote works and if it would work here.)

Fair of you to admit there might be communication lapses on both ends....it happens. Given that, stick with the same person and see if details (areas of fuzziness) can be ironed out. Everyone's entitled to an off day. :) If things don't improve and you've given it your best, I wouldn't hesitate to ask for someone else. (There was a time when my rep was out of town, and he referred me over to someone else. Seems to be all about teamwork out there, and I never got the sense that someone wouldn't help out simply because it wasn't 'their account' -- and we bugged them plenty by phone w/ our 'oops -- in the middle of installation and need help now' calls.

The remote I listed is for outlet/plug-in type only. I couldn't hardwire all together, due to my layout and the amount of damage connecting them all would create. It wouldn't work for a hard-wired setup. Frankly there isn't much different between my setup and hardwired. I can't see any wires, not even under my cabinets.

You will need to purchase a module that interconnects all lights/transformers and has a remote system. Legrand makes one that plays music, has a remote, and you can plug phone/tablet to it. But it's very noticeable & $$, which you don't want.

Otherwise, it's a single wall switch/dimmer. That being said, I've seen bluetooth wall switches with remotes, which would be your cheapest option at $44. What you want is a dimmer/bluetooth or wireless wall switch. Just curious, how do you plan to connect both sides of your kitchen or are you going to have two wall switches?

GE Bluetooth wall switch:

https://byjasco.com/products/ge-bluetooth-wall-smart-dimmer

Lutron wireless wall switch: (I would get this one.)

http://www.amazon.com/Lutron-P-PKG1W-WH-Wireless-600-watt-Multi-Location/dp/B00JJY0S4G/ref=sr_1_5?s=lamps-light&ie=UTF8&qid=1461361705&sr=1-5&refinements=p_n_feature_keywords_browse-bin%3A2800162011

http://www.legrand.us/adorne/design-tools/under-cabinet-configurator.aspx

Steph, this is not going to be hardwired. As the Inspired LED guy says "It's plug and play." If you look at the plan I attached above, on the left side of the kitchen, the wires will plug into the outlet over the microwave. On the right side, we will have our electrician install an outlet in the top right cabinet.

So the IL guy is saying that the beauty of this expensive controller is that it doesn't need batteries and will operate each side of the kitchen independently or together as we wish.

So would your Amazon remote work with that?

Strip lights at 87 are very good. 72 not so much. Thanks for the info!

My electrician did the same. He tied off from the outlets below and put new ones above. I'm not sure why you need all that other equipment. I just plugged my lights into the new outlets and routed my wire in the front corner of my my cabinets where you can't see. Then I added a dimmer and controls at each outlet, but only one programmed remote with 5 options. It's truly handy!

So, yes you can definitely use that same remote I am. And at $29 I would encourage you to try it first. Do you have all the lights connected to one outlet?

Lol, this remote can do that very same thing that guy is trying to sell you on that controller. I have mine programmed like this. 1) All lights at the same time. 2) Right Side 3) Left side. 4) Still blank 5) my Living Room lamp. I can only do this because I have each light connected to an outlet separately.

You should go back and tell him you found something that does that for less than $30, sometimes they are $25. Be careful not to get the "pre-programmed" ones. Get the one's I linked. They are also good for x-mas lights.

Sorry I can't tell from the drawings. How many outlets are you using for the lights?

That's great! I'm going to go for it.

I guess we need the other equipment because these are LED strip lights. They don't come with plugs; all those connectors are separate.

Thanks, Steph, I think I finally got one project settled.

Steph, one outlet on each side of the kitchen.

You are gold then. You can program together and each side like i have it, but I'm using 4 outlets, so I guess I could program them individually, but why?

You will have 3 more of the controllers to use elsewhere. I bought a tablelamp dimmer from homedepot for each outlet because my lights are really bright. and adapter because the dimmer has no ground.

The plug/cable is usually sold separately and is often label for display use. What did you buy besides the compatible cable? I purchased 4 maxlight power cords from amazon for $20.

That's all I needed besides the light. I think someone wanted to sell you a bunch of stuff is what happened. There's usually lots of different ways to do things. Someone sold you the scenic route.

Oh, I didn't think about dimming. So that's a separate operation, huh? I guess I'll leave that to my electrician to work out and just go ahead and order the basic components from the LED place.

Are you going to want to change the dimming a lot or keep it fixed to a certain dimness?

You can't really dim plug-ins unless its a plugged dimmer. As in, there isn't much your electrician can do if you aren't hardwiring. If you were hardwiring he would install wall dimmer/switch.

This is what I did. Outlet-> (remote controller) ->Table lamp manual dimmer ($11) ->adapter (.69cents) ->Undercab lights

Sounds like a hodgepodge and it is, but can't be seen. I would just remove the adapter and dimmer before you sell. At least that's what my electrician suggested.

Perhaps others who have purchased from Inspired LED can help me out here in replying to Steph. I went to them because so many said they had good experiences with them. And I've been pricing LED strip lighting for the past several weeks. What I've found is that there is very iffy cheap stuff on Amazon or the price shoots way up for the high quality stuff you get at lighting stores. As I said in my original post, the last place wanted $134 for 5 feet.

I've checked the specs on the Inspired lights and they seem to be good quality at a reasonable price.

I'm sure they didn't try to swindle you. They probably just suggested things that they knew, which most likely only encompass items in their store. I've also learned if you don't ask specific questions, then people don't offer cheaper alternatives.

Hope these help: tried to take one pic from a more seated angle (although probably closer than your seating might be, only 3-4 feet away), one with just the under cab light on, and one with all lights on.

I have had no issues with mine after 2.5 years, and am seeing 5 star reviews on the item that seems to be the one I have (the convertible). Those are the most expensive of that brand; you will have to see how the total would compare to Inspired LED or environmentalLED. The ones labeled just plug in are less expensive, less bright too.

raee, I was probably looking at the wrong ones. I didn't notice any that said convertible. I'll take another look. It still appeals to me to have a rocker switch on each light.

CJ Mac -- I don't know if this will help at all or whether it's relevant (it's been a while since we thought about all of this....sorry), but I'll give ya what I can remember. At the time we even considered UCLs, it was a one-week period between having our old cabinets hauled away and having our new cabinets delivered/installed. We were sitting in a bare kitchen, an expanse of exposed drywall at our disposal...our mental gears raced. To us, it was the perfect time to arrange for UCLs. DH could handle the cutting into drywall and hardwiring, and we just needed someone to quickly walk us through what we needed to do. And we didn't want to have visible wires going into outlets. Could we have thrown together all of the component parts ourselves for less money? Maybe/possibly. But Inspired saved us so much time and the potential aggravation that many DIY projects can present.

Knowing that I'd need max light for evening-time meal prep (AKA task lighting), yet want to dim the lights in the evening for 'mood' lighting, we were certain a dimmer switch was the way to go.

Even thin lights may show when you are sitting and look into the kitchen. It seems most new kitchen installs are done with a light rail added to hide the lights behind. We did an update several years ago and kept our old cabinets which had no light rail or moulding below the boxes. DH is rather handy and we bought some oak (our cabinets are oak) corner moulding about 3/4 or an inch wide. I got stain matched up at a good paint store. Cloverdale I believe and they can make stain to match if you bring in a door from your cabinets. We installed that below the cabinets and I stained and varnished the. They gave a little update to the cabinet look and do a great job of hiding our UCL's. They look like they were always on the cabinets and match perfectly.

He also installed our UCL and drilled small holes in the bottom of the cabinet, fished the wire thru them and then behind, thru the wall studs up to a soffit where we have access. Wired in an on and off and dimmer switch in our Zephyr fan hood since it has lots of room in the metal body. Virtually no wire showing and the light switch is with the fan light switch. DH is so innovative!

Reviving this thread! Is everyone who got inspiredled still happy? And can you tell me...do you end up seeing the dots on your countertops if you get the diffuser, or not? I have white porcelain backsplash (similar to subway) and a white quartzite countertop. Think I will be okay with a diffuser? I really don’t like the dot effect.

No dots on my countertop with the diffuser. I have the Lowe's Utilitech brand lights.

We're very happy with the lights from Inspired LED. I'm pretty sure we did not get a diffuser, but ours is not a bright shiny counter like yours.

Still happy with mine. I did not use diffusers, and do not have reflection issues.