Best DIY Undercabinet Lighting Option

12 years ago

Hello! I haven't posted in ages, but when I have a problem I always turn to you brilliant GWers to help me come up with a solution! I intalled my beautiful glazed crackle subway tile last fall and now want to install undercabinet lighting to really illuminate the tile. Unfortunately, I am not electrician and am on a tight budget. I purchased the xenon puck-light kit from Lowe's but have read terrible reviews about them. Have any of you had success with DIY undercabinet lighting, and if so, do you have any advice for me? I'd love to know the type of lighting you chose and the level of expertise it takes to install. Thanks so much!!! Lisa G.

Featured Answer

mtnfever (9b AZ/HZ 11)

12 years ago

Hi, I put in some LED strip UCL from a kit that I saw and bought at my local ACE Hardware. It was ~$40 for three strips of "warm white" LEDs. it has a thumbwheel off/on --not dimmable-- and the transformer is on the plug into the wall. If you want dimmable or to have a regular light switch (and you don't have electrical experience), then this is *not* the kit for you. The link below to Amazon looks like the same product that I bought from ACE, though the Amazon is named AmerTac and the ACE was named Amerelle. I liked buying at the local store so I could make sure it all worked and the LED light colors all matched or I could take it back easily. (This ACE is in a town of ~5k so I'm sure an actual city would have even more choices!)

I have only one upper cabinet for which I wanted UCL so this kit has worked very well for me and I don't care about dimming in my non-open galley kitchen.

Some future project will have DH drill a hole in the cabinet to route the plug into the extra outlet by the hood and re-do the wiring to a switch rather than the thumbwheel but that takes the electrical experience he has, not me!

The lighting forum has *lots* of info on dimmable UCL if you search that forum.

HTH

Here is a link that might be useful: looks the same as what I bought

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Comments (10)

maybeiloveyou
12 years ago
I'm curious about this too. Is the IKEA undercabinet / LED lighting any good?
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suzanne_sl
12 years ago
bump

Surely someone has some experience with this. We're going to need to know about this pretty soon too.
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Without much detail to your inquiry, I’ll only be able to address this in broad general terms... I often specify American Lighting Trulux LED tape lighting for under-cabinet (and cove or toe-kick) lighting. It is small (⅛” x ½” approximately) so can be hidden/mounted in a variety of ways, dimmable, drivers can be remotely mounted easily, is available in a varity of standard to high lumen outputs and color temperatures. I’ve recently heard good things about LEDI Lighting LED tapes too, but have not installed those yet. For very tight budgets you might look to Kichler or NSLUSA companies for some options. When mounting, be sure to consider the reflectivity of your countertop and backsplash materials, to avoid (as much as possible) seeing the LED ‘dots’ or consider mounting in a channel and using a frosted lens. https://americanlighting.com/trulux https://ledi.lighting/products/inspire-tape/ https://www.kichler.com/products/indoor-lighting/led-tape-light-channels/ https://www.nslusa.com/product/commercial/ambient/led-tape-light/
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petra66_gw
12 years ago
I have the Ikea undercabinet lighting, both the halogen pucks and the 'strips' containing 3 halogen lights. I have had them for some 6 months now and are NOT happy with them. When recently installed, they worked fine, but the bulbs seem to die really quickly. What's worse, the pucks for some reason seem to 'loose contact', they do not turn on anymore. If you tap them they turn on for a while and all of a sudden turn off again. Research on the net makes it clear more people have had the same issues with the Ikea pucks. I am definitely replacing the pucks, am in doubt about the strips (they are holding up better and the bulbs might have died of overtension, a common occurence in Spain). HTH, Petra
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barbcollins
12 years ago
My husband bought me a couple LED puck lights for my office that are motion sensitive.

If you wave your had under them they turn on (and can be dimmed). I was thinking about using them, but they would all be independent from each other.
barbcollins
12 years ago
Oh, I should mention they are battery operated so so outlet is required.
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oldhousegal
12 years ago
I am researching this as well, and was on Ikeafans blog the other day. One of the posters talked about these LED's that can be either hardwired or plug in.
They sound super easy to install - the site has videos how to do it, and the prices are pretty good. They have the same thing at Amazon, but more expensive there.
I'm looking at doing these (DIY install as well), and would love to hear what others may offer!
HTH!

Here is a link that might be useful: Inspired LED
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xand83
12 years ago
We used the Ikea LED strips. 2 packs (8 strips total) for $100 total. I installed them under the cabinets and ran the lines up to the cabinet above the microwave. They have in-line switches (not hardwired), but opening the cabinet and fiddling with switches each time to turn on the lights would be ridiculous. We bought a wireless light switch, plugged the receiver into the spare outlet above the microwave, plugged-in the LED lights, and then mounted the switch under one of the cabinets where it can't be seen. Works perfectly, for about 8 months now. Link below to the kit. Good luck!

Just the LEDs right after installation:

With all lights:

Here is a link that might be useful: Wireless switch kit
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regina_phalange
12 years ago
I've been looking into this for a while as well. Another poster mentioned the Inspired LED. I was looking at them yesterday on Amazon and the reviews are quite good which was surprising since most of these types of things don't fair as well in the reviews.

Here is a link that might be useful: Amazon Reviews for Inspired LED
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sophiabonne
12 years ago
you may get some useful information in my site. If you need more write specifically to my 'about us' page of the site.

Here is a link that might be useful: Recessed Under Cabinet Lighting
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Best DIY Undercabinet Lighting Option

mtnfever (9b AZ/HZ 11)

Comments (10)

maybeiloveyou

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