Hi there! LED's can be tricky, most are directional and don't give the best solution for displaying objects in cabinets.Round will most likely not give you the look or ample light you desire, I would suggest going with a strip that spreads itself from edge to edge. This way when looking at cabinets the light seems to flood the cabinet and directly above the objects for a more glowing/spread of light. Hope this helps!

LED pucks are a great choice, it's low wattage and doesn't get hot - they also last a really long time so you won't be changing them for years. I usually specify pucks for top cabinets and like the directional light source when it's used for display. The strips can also be good, I usually place them under counters as they give a uniform light.

Would it be better to put one strip hidden behind the front top face frame horizontally running all the way across, or put two strips vertically behind the side face frames?

I've come across low power light strips that are anywhere from 0.8W/ft to high power versions around 4W/ft. What would be an ideal amount of light power W/ft at 100% dimming for showing off upper display objects?

Top and sides at a lower output / ft if you really want to display stuff. One bright puck light if you just want it to look dramatic with mostly bare shelves.

I'm having a tricky time deciding between two different 24V LED strips because of the CRI quality and brightness. I'm looking at the Hafele Loox LED 3011 strip with a CRI of 90 (0.9W/ft.) and the much brighter Loox LED 3015 with a CRI of 85 (4.7W/ft.). These two products are new and probably use the latest LED technology. The popular 12V Loox LED 2013 and Loox LED 2015 have much lower CRI of 65 and 67 (though I like the warm color temp when I saw it in person). I want the colors in the upper display cabinets to be vivid, that's why I'm thinking about the CRI. I don't like the flat colors that some LEDs produce. But I'm not sure if 0.9W/ft. is too little, or 4.7W/ft. is too much. I will have dimming, and would like to be able to dim it very low to make it look like a subtle night light sometimes.

Do not worry so much about cri. It means little to nothing to you if you have no experience with it. If you are thinking of putting the equivalent of 4.7 standard 60 watt bulbs in one 30" x 36" cabinet, then you don't have the experience to judge what a cri value should be. I doubt you want a crisp bright almost blue light, so just look at the light and see if you like it. At some point the cri value is worthless. It is like being a little bit pregnant. If you are looking at something through glass, it will change the color of objects just by where you stand more than the difference in the cri between any descent strip. You cannot just dim led lights down to nothing, so dimming a light that is the equivalent of a 280 watt bulb down to 20% is still like putting a standard 60 watt bulb in a 30" x 36" cabinet. Get the .9 watt per foot.

Good advice Fred. Last night I was scouring the web to find the lux equivalent in LED wattage compared to a 20W Xenon bulb, and I held a bulb up inside the cabinet to get some idea how bright it might end up. When I placed one of these bulbs in the 39" wide upper cabinet, it appeared that one would not be bright enough when full power is desired, maybe two Xenon bulbs would do the trick. Then I figured each Xenon bulb's light power is roughly equivalent to 4W of LED. If I used the higher power LED strip I would use a shorter piece, only about 2 feet long. But that would defeat the purpose of the more even illumination with a full surround LED strip, so like you said the 0.9W would be much better, wrapped all the way around. By the way I always avoid blue looking lights, always go for the warmer 2700K temps.

I am also seriously considering the EnvironmentalLights brand RGB + Warm White strip because I know my wife would go crazy about the ability to change mood colors along the 8 upper display cabinets, plus the ability to put it in Warm White mode for normal display. They claim a CRI of 90+ which is hard to believe. These are listed as 3W/ft. which means that it should be less than that with only the Warm White LEDs turned on. I wonder if these would be decent.

http://www.environmentallights.com/led-rope-and-strip-lights/led-strip-lights/rgb-colorplus-led-strip-lights/14318-rgbww-reel-12.html

Well, after spending several days scouring the web for every possible light fixture type, and reading way too many discussion forum posts... I think I'm going to go with simple Xenon 20W line voltage pucks in the display cabinets. LEDs are too "flat" in their color rendition for my desire. The one exception is the CREE LED series which I really like, but they don't seem to make a small enough fully integrated unit, just the larger downlights.

2700K is OK.
20 meter led strip per roll with soldering on cutting area waterproof.
You can choose type of LEDs of 3528 and 5050, also PCB 10MM or 8MM according to your ideas.

info@harrys-qc.com
www.harrys-qc.com

I ended up using LED strips from EnvironmentalLights.com that have 90+ CRI. The results are amazing! Great colors rendition for display, and a very nice warm white ambience. I am using these products. I made it dimmable from the wall switch using their magnetic transformer. I highly recommend these particular LED strips, superior to other ones I've seen.
Warm White 3528 LED Strip Light, 120/m, 10mm wide, by the 5m Reel and CS071 LED Channel System Including Base Klus-B4023ANODA and Top Klus-1369.

You can find a nice LED downlight for your cabinets that is small. Our Luna 7o is orientable and has a round cutout of 55mm and a round trim of 68mm. If you want a beam that is spread out, we offer options for frosted glass which diffuses the light source and spreads out the light more evenly. You can customize just about everything about the light to fit your design needs and are even available up to 93 CRI