I think it would work, but that you'd never use the puck lights because it's such a pain to go down the row and turn them all on individually. But tacky - no one will ever see the pucks, so I think it would be fine.

I tried those, and they do not give much light at all. I ended up going with Ikea under cabinet lights, which plug in. The electrician would have cost too much to hard wire the lights otherwise.

I've never had undercabinet lighting and don't miss it, so I'm thinking you might end up not turning on the pucks for the reason rmiriam gave. Can you have the electrician just make the wiring available to add the lighting later?

---"I tried those, and they do not give much light at all. I ended up going with Ikea under cabinet lights, which plug in."

Perfect advice. *clap*clap*clap*

Regards, Fred

I hear ya about trying to find the right places to economize!
It seems one job hinges on the next and there are so few 'stand alone' items that can be put on hold till there is money in the coffers again!

Just thinking out loud here...If hard wiring can be added at a later time can that wiring be brought in through the back of the cabinet & dropped down through a small hole in the bottom of the cabinet so your backsplash is not touched? Or is that idea more tacky by compromising the cabinetry?

We have some puck lights in our kitchen (rental) and they're almost completely useless. But, if you have a light rail, someone a while back suggested christmas lights tacked to the bottom of the cabs as a workable alternative.

---"If hard wiring can be added at a later time can that wiring be brought in through the back of the cabinet & dropped down through a small hole in the bottom of the cabinet so your backsplash is not touched?"

Yes, it's easy and even simpler than that. The wire can come out of the wall through the back of the cabinet, but in the space under it rather than through the usable space.

There are tricks. With a little forethought, you can set up the cabinet to be easily unscrewed and removed for future electrical work. You can bury a wire in the wall, so long as it is NOT energized. You can use a "rehab" or "old work" style electrical box in the backsplash that can be pulled right out of the wall for future modifications. This also provides a nice access hole for fishing wire around inside the wall.

Once upon a time, I was remodeling a kitchen, and the client could not make up his mind about installing an over-the-range, microwave/vent combo unit. The existing kitchen never had a vent fan over the range. When he finally decided to go with it, I was left wondering how I could snake a wire from the existing outlet across a stud into the next bay. When I opened a hole up behind the new unit, I discovered that someone had already installed the wire I needed. And that wire was left HOT in the wall for 17 years.

Thank you for the advice, fredl. I'm not sure I completely understand what you mean, but I will ask our electrician. If I am having it wired for future use, wouldn't it make more sense to just do the whole thing right now? In other words, would I really be saving any $$ other than the cost of the lights themselves? I don't know how much the lights would be, I haven't priced them yet, so maybe the lights are much more than the cost of labor.

I couldn't afford my lights yet, so I ran the wires our of the walls where the lights will go and stuck wire nuts on the end of each. They are neatly coiled up against the bottom of the cabinets until I can afford what I want to get. You can also get UC lighting that plugs in, so the electrician can wire an outlet that is controlled from a switch so you can just plug the lights in later on.

Like Rhome, I never had under-cab lights, but my electrician, who is supposed to be some kind of lighting-design genius, acted like they were a must-have. (They weren't on the plans at all, but he assumed I needed them anyway.)
Now I have them, and feel that I would have been just as happy without them. In fact, if they weren't there, I could have put in attractive undercabinet racks for my beautiful stemware, which does get used more than the undercabinet lights.

First off I don't think it is tacky.
I am not sure which brand you are looking at but some only
stay on for 1 hour. They do not provide much light and
could be a disappointment. I like FredL's idea or ccoombs1,
prewire but wait until you get what you can afford.

There is also the option of buying the plug in under
cabinet lighting. You mount the light under the cabinet
and plug it into an outlet. You would not have to
hardwire. If you have a slightly recessed under cabinet it
can be as small as 1 inch by 12 inches wide. Size of a
ruler with a 1 inch bulb. These can be really bright and
about $15.00 at home depot or lowes. Far cheaper than
hiring an electrician. Maybe some will think this is tacky.

I don't have undercab lighting but I want it. Our ski
condo with a micro mini kitchen has it. I love working with
the lights. So, in this reno I am doing it but have the
good fortune to have a DH who can wire up to code.
Although thinking about debsan's stemware makes me rethinking things. :)
~boxerpups

If you're a member of costco (or know someone who is), they have a puck light right now that is motion activated (you wave your hand under it and it lights up, wave again for less light, once more for off). You could probably just wave your hand down the row of cabinets and turn them all on at once... maybe make it easier???
just an idea
b

I put under cab lighting in the first kitchen I renovated. AND I NEVER, EVER TURN THEM ON. So my second kitchen is not getting them. I found they're really used by most people as a decorative night light. That's not for me. Do you really need them? Or are they just an accent light? If your kitchen has enough light and your stove range hood has a light, you might not really need them.

I had plug-in halogens I installed in dark corner of my old kitchen - very bright and very hot (but that was about 10 yrs ago). Since then I've learned that UC lights are not supposed to be on same circuit as outlets for small appliances.

I'd recommend wiring one or two locations where you do prep work to a switch (maybe same switch as over-sink light? Or reuse old GD switch if you're putting in air switch) and trying some battery-operated ones to see if you really want hardwired ones later one. Cap off the wires like ccombs1 did until you decide.

I know I'd like more light on either side of my range (or at least the one side where I prep a lot) since the sink light and range light aren't covering that space under cabinet, and I cast a shadow when recessed lights are on. May not need them to other side of sink since I don't prep over there (dish drainer, MW, toaster and phone on that side).

I have monitored this site for some time and the help here is wonderful...but as an electrical inspector I had to comment...Please do not bury any wires in the wall. If you should decide not to follow thru with your hard wire plan and sell your home the next owner my energize them. If you want to do hard wire you can bring a box to a corner cabinet and blank it off.

I had the undercounter issue. I have a dark kitchen (thru my own doing), and had my electrian out a few times to help me find a solution. Since I don't have a valance under the cabinet, and didn't like the idea of seeing the junction box (I have stainless in the kitchen, but......), I was stumped for a good solution. I went out and bought those stick on pucks (LED) that turn low, high and off with motion. What a pain. They would turn on when I didn't want them, turn off when I didn't (wiping down the counter caused havoc) AND produced insufficient lighting.

My solution? IKEA florescents (not hot like some halogens) that are plugged in. Had the electrican put some plugs up high, sideways, under the cabinets. Not perfect, but good enough. I did find the IKEA lights to be expensive though.....On the bright side (haha!), I do use the lights a lot.

Using the UC lights may depend on how old you are too. DH and I are in our 50's, and we really like using them, especially in our main prep area. DH is 5 years older, and even with that small difference, he likes to have the UC lights on more than me, so I anticipate it being a feature that gets more used as time passes...

He was just over my shoulder (what advice are you dispensing now?), and he says, no, he doesn't think the LED puck lights would be tacky- he says they are so cheap... go for it now, and you could always add more permanent lighting later. But, if you need to pay someone to do the pre-wiring... I'd probably do UC lights that can be plugged in, do have 'extra' plugs? How was the electrician going to wire for the UC lights if your cabinets are up?

A very inexpensive and to my way of thinking nice undercabinet lighting is the strip lights that you can get a big box stores for about $20 each. They look like little white Christmas lights encased in a long metal strip, and come with a plug, but you can have the electrician hardwire them as well. I find they give a nice warm light, do not give off any heat, and they are my favorite under cabinet lighting regardless of expense. I've had them in several houses.

Note: If you do get them, they need to go under the front lip, facing backwards. You do not want those puppies shining out at you like a theatre marquis!

As a temporary measure - we went with the battery operated stick on ones - so far so good, but they do go through batteries quite quickly. They don't give off that much light it is true, but I don't use them for task lighting so they work fine for us for now.

you can use rope lighting too

Thank you for all the advice. I am having my electrician out for other things this evening, so I will run some of these options by him and see what he thinks. I'll let you know what we end up doing. Thanks, all :)

I don't know if you've already decided what to do, but while browsing the rejuvenations website I came across this:

http://www.rejuvenation.com/fixshowC743/templates/selection.phtml?n=v&tab=room&snapshot_id=

Maybe a helpful idea?

Good luck!

Liz

I have to agree with the inspector here (are you doing your kitchen under code with proper permits? Because if so, his advice will matter...they don't pass burried wires). I added two runs for future lighting on our deck when the walls were ripped out and we finished them in the box and capped them off under a blank plate for future use. There is no fire danger this way, which is a big deal.

Some code issues are umm silly (don't read that mr. inspector LOL) like the requirements to have UL stickers on all lighting (they didn't exist on antique lights) but free wires running around the walls...that's one I feel quite comfortable conforming with.

I love my under cabinet lighting. I suppose it depends on the kitchen layout and your other lighting options, but if it were me, I'd do the plug in lighting verses the battery stuff. I've used those, and they're ok, but not that great. I have them in our master closet and they do work well there (set to turn on when the door opens) but for any longer than a few mins, they're useless IMO. I put battery ones in my mom's house and they really make a difference for her functionality.

I have heard that these wireless lights are pretty good.
I am also interested, as we just redid our kitchen, and now realized that its kind of dark under our cabinets now, when it wasn't really before the re-model.

At this point i would hate to start drilling, and wiring.

Here is a link that might be useful: Wireless LED

this is a pic of the lights i was talking about

We tried the pucks, and used them all of once as they stink. Totally wouldn't work for task lighting, accenting lighting at best, and not that great at that.

We've had the wire loops hanging under our cabs and duck tape over portions of the old backsplash for 4 or 5 months, as the granite & counter tops got put off until now (this wed, to be exact!).

If you don't mind the dangling wires, then maybe the add-on wall-plug style would work for you at a later date. I think they can be daisy chained to a certain extent too. But before new backsplash goes up is the time to do it for a clean look.

Be sure you preview the actual LEDs, as alot of cheaper ones are blueish or purplish, which drives me crazy as my interests in fish tanks makes me rather sensitive to cool or warm lights. Goes for flashlights too.

highgrovemanor,
which puck lights are you referring to which stink?

We just darkened are cabinets, and also added a full granite backsplash. So, we really didn't notice shadows on the old white tile backsplash before, until now of course :(

At this point I and stumped on how we can added good udercabinet lighting since we already layed dow the full granite backsplash, and the cabinets have already been done also.

Initially I though I could come up with some kind of wireless solution, but it is looking like all of these wireless lights are seriously underpowered.

Help!!

"Stick-n-Click", which is a single LED, 3-AAA battery stick on, and totally cheap. :) but worthless to me. :(

I'd suspect anything putting decent light will eat some serious batteries, leaving you swapping out batteries if they get used a bit.

ps - granite started today, but they wound up re-decking, so it won't be done until tomorrow. :(

well, my local Costco had those triangle LED lights, and they are surprisingly bright!!

3 pack for $19.99 , and that includes the batteries.
Battery run time is claimed to be around 80 hours also.

This light is by far the brightest battery powered one i have seen.