To me, its a must have -- once you've had it, its hard not to have it going forward (even if the kitchen has a lot of bright lights.) UCL gets rid of the shadows as you're cooking.

I would put lighting at 2, 3 and 4. WIth lights 2 & 3 on one switch and 4 on a separate.

Are you going to have lighting over the sink as well?

Is it something you can wire for but not install and live without for a while to see if you are 'missing' it?

I agree with zacsdad as to why and where to put it. I'm only 41, but I have noticed over the past year that I have more and more need for extra light. I can't wait for UC lights in the new kitchen. I was in a house recently that added big light bars under the old cabs just for extra light. While they looked ugly because of the type of cheap light used and how they were mounted, the effect was unmistakeable. I could see what I was working on without getting a shadow from the overhead light.

My guess is that if you've been around here much at all and seen many finished kitchens, you have actually seen UC lights but didn't realize it.

Yes, Aliris, you can put in the wiring and cap it for future lighting.

I hardly ever turn mine on. My lighting designer assured me that I'd be happy to have it in the future. Of course, he did such a good job on the rest of the lighting that it's not really needed. At least for now. :)

I would put it EVERYWHERE because it is so freaking fantastic. Holy cow. We just redid our laundry room and I am so over-the-top head over heels in love with the UCL we put in our kitchen three years ago I wanted to put it there as well. Luckily I took a sanity pill (just kidding -- don't have scrip for those!) and realized "duh, laundry room." Luckily I did also put it in our den (what others would call an office, I suspect) when we did it and it is my go-to lighting.

It is an incredible invention! We put in fluorescent and it's bright, it's cool, it's immediate. I would never go back. never.

Lighting is the most important element in a room. That may sound extreme, but just try looking at paint in daylight, candlelight, etc and you see what I mean.

Therefore, I believeryou should use as many types of light as possible, oh... and the whole world should be on a dimmer. My fave place for a dimmer is the MBA, btw!

Anyway, back to UCL. In my prior kitchen we had a long run of cherry countertop (like 18 feet). We had UCL lighting, and the look of the counter with the UCL with a buffet set on it ... well who wanted to use the DR?

ONe note I will mention.I put in my UCL about 8-9 yrs ago so the technology may be different (and I dont even recall what type I used). But, for example, if I had a basket of bread under the lights, it would cause the bread to sweat in the bag and go moldy! So be sure to ask about that type of thing.

To me it is a must have.

I never had UCL before this kitchen remodel and I love it. I would put it in all the places you have marked. I think you will like the extra light provided to you in your work areas. And if you want to display something pretty in the corner (#1) the light will help display it. I think that corner will look dark if you have all the other spaces lit up and that one without. All mine are either all on or all off. I have one switch that operates them all and all my lights in my kitchen are on dimmers.

I have never had UCL or even seen it in person "round these parts" where I live. When we built almost 13 years ago, the electrician asked if I wanted them. At that time (before having internet and no knowledge of this wonderful forum) I thought UCL would just be extra $$ for no reason. Now that we have replaced our white laminate counter with dark granite, I am obsessed with UCL! First, at 51, I just don't see as well and second, the dark granite does make a difference. My DH insisted that if we get UCL, it had to be LED. So after months of research and comparing etc, I finally made the purchase. They were suppose to be delivered yesterday but are stuck in IL due to "adverse weather" (putting it mildly huh?) After we get them installed I will post pics. I will have nearly 13 feet of lighting for a mere 35 watts (or close to it) plus - LED wont't burn out for about 10-15 years. Had I listened to the lighting guy during the build we could have had the lights hardwired but they wouldn't have been LED. Probably florescent.

Sorry for being long-winded but yes you definitely want the UCL lighting installed - even if you don't use it every day. But I would get the LED. More expensive to purchase but they'll be no guilt about leaving them on all day (or night)

You can't light your work on a countertop by putting a light behind your back. You end up working in your own shadow. Unless you can get strong lighting right overhead, you will need UCL. Plus your eyes will need more light as time goes by.

ucl is a no brainer. MUST have.

Ucl's were important in our old kitchen. We only had one ceiling fixture with one bulb. Shadows were a problem and our 2 ucl's were used a lot.

Our new kitchen has excellent lighting. I very rarely use the ucl's. In fact dh even forgot we had them because we never need them. The can lights over our counters (with upper cabinets) cast excellent light without shadows. Our main prep area is a peninsula with no upper cabinets. Our sinks have no upper cabinets over them. Our range has lights in the hood. These are my main work areas and ceiling lights do the job.

I did find I needed additional light over time, especially as I hit my 40's. I've heard that it levels off in one's 40's--I found this to be true with me. But it still doesn't make ucl's necessary in our new kitchen. Even my mother, 90, doesn't turn on our ucl's.

I'm not a big fan of light from ucl's. I like light coming from above, not from under eye level. The ucl's are only 18" above the counter and therefore cast an uneven light (it was uneven with our old fluorescents and it is uneven with our new xenons.) The light from the ceiling is much more even.

If I had it to do over again, I would probably still get ucl's "just in case"---these were 3 of the costliest words during our kitchen remodel. But if our kitchen budget forced a choice between ucl's and some other important item, I definitely could have axed the lights.

I think it also depends on the layout of your space and your other lighting. We skipped them because we only have one run of upper cabinets, it's only 4 feet long, and it's not a primary workspace (mainly fridge landing zone, and toaster oven lives there so that takes up almost half of the counter). I also have them in my work kitchen and we virtually never use them, even at night, because they're not over the major prep/cooking space (which is an island in that case). So it seemed like we might be spending a big chunk of our electrical budget on something we might not use (and could add later if we felt the need).

I did plan our overhead general lights so that one of them was directly centered on that counter. When we just had light bulbs in the fixtures, I was getting shadows on that counter and worried that we needed to add UCLs (our cabinetmaker insisted that he build space for them in case we ever changed our minds!) Once we put the shades on the lights, though, the shadows on the counter went away. BUT we have to have the overhead lights on to work in that space, which I would hate if it were a primary work zone. (We lit our primary work zone with pendants that are separately switched.)

So short answer---no, you don't always need them. But in your plan, it looks like 2 and 3 are major prep zones---so I think you need them there. Even if you have incandescents for 2, you will still get some shadows under the cabinets there, which might bug you if that's your major work space. (You might get away with not having them for 3 if you mainly plan to work between sink and range and have good range hood lights, but if you're doing them on one side, might as well make it consistent.) For 4, it really depends on what that space is for. If it's work space that you want to be able to use independent of general lighting, I'd put them there too. If it's just fridge landing space (is that the fridge in that corner? can't tell!), probably not a huge deal. HTH!

Another who never had them, recently installed as part of a kitchen remodel and wouldn't be without them again. The UCL is part of the overall lighting plan in a kitchen and as said it gives you more options--and the task lighting is so useful!

I made up for lost time and light in my kitchen. Had lived for 20 years with one ancient flourescent over my sink and one interrogation-room style overhead we never used because it was so unpleasant. I got recessed lights in the ceiling, a pendant over the sink and UCL on both sides of my galley kitchen. No regrets on any, but especially appreciate the UCL. As it has turned out, we still don't use the overheads often and the UCL lights have proven to be just fine as task lighting.

I also ended up using a very budget friendly new-style flourescent UCL lighting set up. Investigated LED, tape lights etc. but eventually ended up taking the advice of the lighting guy and going with simple low-profile lighting. It isn't visible from eye level view and the light is fine without making the contents of the cabinets too warm. So, you can do UCL on a budget and get a nice product.

I've had them in the last 3 kitchens. Needless to say, they were some of my first purchases for the new kitchen.
I would do all 1-3 on one switch and #4 on a different switch.
If your present kitchen isn't demolished right now, go to a big box store and buy the cheapest flourscent under cab light they stock. Take it home and install it under your cab where you do the most prep. That should tell you whether you need ucl.