We got ours at Lowes and they seem great so far. There was only one kind at our Lowes that was the direct wire, so I'm not sure of the brand. We aren't back in our kitchen yet, but I turn them on "for fun." They were reasonably priced, and our electrician is happy with them as well.

Went with Seagull track with pods and love, love, love them! Good luck!

Elba1, thanks I will have to check Lowes - do you happen to know the brand? Also, do you use them for task lighting (I need something bright for chopping so I don't hack off a finger!)

celtinNE - I love the Seagull, but when I called them, they told me I would need to put a transformer the size of a bread box somewhere, and I don't want to give up any cabinet space as our kitchen is really small. Where did you put it, and do you happen to have a photo?

Transformers are in the basement. Right under the kitchen. They are not the size of a breadbox, maybe 7x4. I have them for under cab lights and in cab lights.

I don't have pics of the transformers because I've a flood from the new dishwasher.

Pic of in cab

The set up

The pods

Under cabs

Happy, happy, happy with them. As the light at night fades earlier, I can plug in more of the pods for more light.

Heads up, it was not cheap.

Wow, that looks great! Very, very nice! Thank you for sending the set up diagram - that is useful.

Ah, the joys of having a basement - we live in an apartment building, so we have to fit it in the kitchen if we get the transformer. I will have to take a look around and figure out as so far through googling I'm not finding much with the transformer built in other than the philips.

So sorry to hear about your flood. :-(

dandylandy, sorry I don't know the brand - my receipt says "LED direct wire bar." They come in 12" 18" & 24" lengths & it was the only direct wire they sold. Yes, they are very bright and I will use them for task lighting. My electrician had me get the largest one each cabinet would accept, so it is like continuous light. I believe they only came in white, which I read you don't want, however we can't see them at all while standing in the kitchen (I have darker cherry cabs) - you would have to purposely bend your head down and look up under the cabinet to see them.

Thanks Elba1, this weekend DH and I will have to make a run to Lowes to take a look. We have dark cabinets, too, but I think in our kitchen the lights will be visible from the kitchen table, so that's why I feel a little funny about white. May have to rethink it though!
Thanks again!

I also bought lights from Lowes, Utilitech is the brand name. On the back of the box, it says they're distributed by Kichler. They were not direct wire, but the electrician made them so. They come in 3 sizes, are not dimmable, but I love the light. I put them on in the morning when it's still dark out. They are wonderful as task lighting.

Helene

We got the Philips (Color Kinetics) undercabinet lights. They are fabulous! and line dimmable without the need for a transformer. They are made to mount under the front of the cabinet and project light down and toward the backsplash.

Billy

Here is a link that might be useful: Check out the Profile Powercore

Dandy...I have those same lights that I purchased frrom Lowes! They are not direct wire, but require an outlet to plug them in. My friend who is renovating my kitchen ran a line up into one of my cabinets and placed an outlet in the back corner of that cabinet...he plugged in the first lite...ran the cord to the underneath of the cabinet then ran the cords thru the lower parts of my cabinets to connect them all...Had 2 12 inch lengths and put a 24 inch length over my cooktop in my higher cabinets. I love that I can dim the individual lengths and at nite it highlites my granite and backsplash.

We have Kichler UCLs. They're not installed yet, but we took them out a couple of days ago to see if we knew *how* to install them. Turns out we needed some direction, so we went back to Ferguson's to see how they did it. We took the transformer with us as that was the piece that had us baffled. This transformer is only about 5 x 5-1/2 x 1. I'm not sure what other lines offer, but that thing is easily small enough to stick in the back of a cabinet.

Alico industries has a very nice looking direct wire LED undercabinet light, and Kichler has a new direct wire LED out that is the only dimmable direct wire LED available. The Alico lights look better to me.
Both are available at http://www.under-cabinet-lights.net/

Here is a link that might be useful: Under Cabinet Lights

I need to figure out my UC lighting also. Good thread!

Skipertino--curious why you like the Alico better. What are the differences other than Kichler is dimmable?

Just the thread I was looking for. What is the light quality for your lights? Are they blue or warm?

5x5x1 would be fine with me as far as having a transformer- that I could fit.

Maybe I misunderstood, but for our kitchen (I think we need 9 lights, which doesn't sound like a lot to me, we have a fairly small space) I wrote down while speaking to the seagull rep that we would need one "the size of a breadbox" and put approx 10"x14"x5" next to it....

I would love dimmable lights!

I've been looking at the LED high brightness strips from Environmental Lights. Their price point was better than the Kichler, and they are dimmable and only 1/2" high which makes them easier to hide under the cabinets. Has anyone used these?

This is to answer breezy girls question. I like the Alico lights better because the finishes look a little nicer. The general quality seems to be the same between Alico and kichler.

Here is a link that might be useful: under cabinet lights

Thanks for the answer, Skipertino. I'm seriously thinking of the Kichler now. I think the sizing was better for me.

Dandy--any decisions yet?

Sadie V - I've installed the Environmental Lights LED strips. They do require a remote transformer. I used a dimmable one and I'm quite happy with it. I just went with the kit (transformer and dimmer switch they recommended).

For direct plug in units (built in transformer) I also installed a short unit from Lowes. I believe it was made by U Line. It was a white housing unit. It is as high as the old fluorescent unit that it replaced. They had some silver units that were thinner and dimmable too. But I decided not to go that way as I wanted a direct wire unit and not one that plugged into an outlet.

I went with Elemental LED for my undercounter lighting because that is what was on display at my electrical supply. I have been happy and I love undercounter lighting! I got the non dimmable driver and paid extra for dimmable switches from their company. All my lights are dimmable. I went overboard and got my lights in my small kitchen on 3 different dimmers depending on the areas and tasks. My driver is 60watts and about 1.5 x 1.5 x 7" and located in an upper cabinet. Again it is small because it is non dimmable (I use dimmer switches instead) You size your lights for using 80% of the stated wattage. So a 60W driver should power only 48 Watts of LED lighting. My system is hard wired. I would do it again in a heart beat!

Here is a link that might be useful: Elemental LED site

In addition to the line voltage dimming and low profile, the other thing I like about the Philips undercabinet LED lights is the curved lens cover and front-of-cabinet mounting that directs the light both down at the counter and back at the backsplash.

Billy

Here is a link that might be useful: Philips Undercabinet LED Product Guide

Hi dandylandy -

We have a good selection of high-quality under cabinet lights at pegasuslighting.com. Our LED Thin Under Cabinet Task Lights can be hardwired to power without requiring a transformer; so can our LED Under Cabinet Task Light with 28 LEDs. Hope this helps you. Good luck with your lighting project!

Here is a link that might be useful: Pegasus Lighting LED Under Cabinet Lights

Hey, thanks everyone for all the info!

We went to look at a few lighting stores this weekend and saw Kichler direct wire, not plug in, and dimmable, according to the rep. Also saw "Creative Systems" eco-counter, which also ticks those same boxes as the kichler and the philips.

Still haven't made a decision, but wanted to update the thread for others who may be looking!

Darn it!!! I just collected all this info together with links, etc and GW lost it. grrrump.

I'd really like others to weigh in on this summary please (that I'll be doing again); I think it will be helpful to have the info abstracted. I would like to estimate cost for 12" but it may be too hard to do that and I don't want to hold this up. But if anyone can at least order some of these options by relative cost eve that would be very helpful. TIA.

Note that everyone likes their UC LEDs....

Seagull track w/ pods. expensive. transformer.

Utilitech (/Kirchler). via Lowes. direct wire. 12"/18"/24". v. bright. white. not dimmable? (or is it? also, someone said not-direct wire. maybe different products ...)

Philips. white light. line dimmable. integrated transformer. light projects both countertop and BS.

Kichler. transformer. direct wire. dimmable. 1"deep

Alico. 1.25" deep

Environmental lights. remote transformer. dimmable.

Elemental LED. dimmable.

Creative systems