I've read this stuff until my head is spinning, but I'm UCL-electricity impaired! Please define these terms: splice box transformer power supply junction box Are these four separate things? Here's my situation: I have two runs of upper cabinets on opposite sides of my 13x13 kitchen. One run is separated by a vent hood into two "runs". I told my electrician I wanted one switch to control all UCLs, so he installed a switch under the end of one run of cabinets. At the moment, there is one thick, flat yellow wire sticking out from under each of the three "runs" of cabinets. I showed him the Juno Pro LED lights from HD, and he said he would install the appropriate wiring. Did he install direct wire? Is it too late now for low voltage? Is that yellow wire called Romex? My electrician is not good at communication. He tells me now I can use "his" special "to the trade" tape LEDs even though I thought he had set up my cabinets for direct wire. And I thought all tape LEDs were low-voltage, which requires different wiring, no? For direct wire, I thought I'd only need to purchase one Juno Pro LED fixture to fit under each cabinet, plus some sort of wires to connect each one in each of the three "runs" of cabinets in my kitchen. So I'm very confused about all the references in this thread to junction boxes and splice boxes!! What on earth are those? How many of those do I need? One splice box for each fixture? How many junction boxes? Or will the electrician supply those? I want to buy the lights and everything else I need myself and have my electrician install them. He marks up everything a lot, and I'm getting pretty fed up with his pricing and his inability to communicate clearly. One last question: The Juno Pro LED lights are expensive! I've read elsewhere in this forum that there are Xenon fixtures I can buy (Seagull lighting?) that will take LED lights when I have the money to upgrade. Will the Juno Pro Xenon fixtures (which look identical to the LED fixtures) also take the LED lights? The Juno Pro Xenon fixtures are about 50% cheaper. If I go that route, will the wiring my electrician installed (those big yellow wires and one switch) work as well? Or am I stuck with Juno Pro LEDs or some other expensive LED option? Any advice is appreciated. I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown with this renovation, and the UCLs are about to push me over the edge! TIA!

OHHHH my Gary - that is goosebump gorgeous. Love the idea of passing food, etc. right out that window. I love it! I just had a thought. I can imagine walking up to the window and placing an order! Brings a whole new level and meaning to take out :) Thanks so much for sharing. florantha, thanks for the link. I'll check out the Quoizels as well. I'm not sure what the most important feature is. The cab inserts are the mottled stained glass, not the knots. Sorry, I should have been clearer. The colors are blends of green, blue, amber, burgandy tones. Yikes, I forgot all about the plant containers! Thanks for the reminder! Rembrandt, oops I mean Kode...Thanks so much for taking the time to create those incredible visuals. They help a lot. I like the Amber as well. The white and clear glass wasn't working for me either, but I think desperation is setting in. I don't think I need the recessed. The under cab pods throw enough light, I think. I'll have to wait until the SS counter is installed. BTW thanks for your kind "outside of the box" comment. Most people think this is "very" taste specific (in other whispered words "she's gone completely mad" :) So after your helpful feedback, here are some ideas. Am I on the right track yet or am I still off? Maybe a 2 light mini in: Or Thanks again for your help! Got to run. SS just pulled into the driveway!!!!!!!!!

I love the fact that you got so many responses on modest and (relatively) cheap fixes including doing nothing but wait. Also great advice to look at the whole house again with an eye to, not so much how much you could spend on it, but just noting any little details now that you are more "detached" as an owner and trying to see it as a buyer. I would be attracted to darker neutral paint EVEN though I would likely re-paint all over again), and the new knobs. But, no buyer is likely to keep everything as-is so it would be a crapshoot to replace counter, appliances. Anyone who has any sort of interest in the house will know that they can change counters, paint and so forth themselvs. Some of the real issues are not whether you will get your $$ back in price, but more whether you are in a real bind to sell quick, or can wait a few months. For some people, $$ is leaking out fast each month and therefore a quicker sale is most important. I had hired an agent to sell my dad's house after he died. I lived in another city and had no interest in trying to do updates, even though it needed a lot of them--we were definitely into right-pricing, because once we would have started on one update, everything would follow, and we still could not justify an increase in price. So we tried to concentrate on necessary improvements like roof, etc. The agent kept telling us things like, how about new siding? great ceramic tile in the kitchen? etc etc. When we knew we were looking for a buyer who was okay with making his own updates. After more than several months of this, we fired her and hired someone else with a different attitude. The house sold in less than a month. Okay, that might not be relevant to your situation, because certainly your home is way more up to date than that and there's also no comparison with the housing markets. The point is just, I now pay a lot more attention to what I hear an agent saying, to see if we are on the same wavelength and that they are truly working for my benefit. So I am more alert to whether the agent is sending poor-mouth signals to buyers or not. Also as many said, sometimes folks are "pressed" for a reason and so you can't always rely on what reasons they give, nor can you blow with the wind on the latest comments from lookers. When you read the real estate sections now, it's all about how we the homeowners ought to invest a brazillian dollars prior to selling. Because remember the agents don't really care so much about the actual sale prices--they are into volume, and want to move stuff quickly.

Pip You are correct in that my 23 watt bulb will not be any good for a plant that does not fit in to my garbage can. The light has no penetration power. All it does is keep the top and upper sides growing until next summer. I will have to come up with something similar to your set up or put it in a reliable heated greenhouse for it to do well. This is the only tree that will not go in ground but will remain potted its entire life. So next year I will be looking seriously at some of the best lights you mentioned. My bucket lights are good for only one winter on small trees. The trees are too big the next year. This tree grew 80% of its height in the first winter in a 4 story 23 watt CFL bucket light. I spread the limbs and it has grown without additional light since. It is now 2 years, 10 months 1 week old as of pictured. It is in a 30 gallon container. As the buckets stacked the lower limbs stopped growing and only the top grew making for a tall lanky tree. I had to stake it for 5 months before she could stand on her own.