LEDs can vary, but most are whiter than incandescent, but still have that amber glow.

Don't forget LED undercabinets can't be a wire-to-wire connection, they need to be plugged in.

We put in ordinary cans with LED attachments that cover them up. You can get LEDs that are balanced to mimic incandescent light, away from the blue end of the spectrum. We are very, very happy with ours. I think the name of the maker was something like Cree.

Having more than one light source helps the light feel more gentle. Your kitchen is about the size of ours, and we put in four LED cans plus one above the sink, plus a halogen light on a ceiling fan. We rarely use the last one, but the others have not felt like overkill.

LED can be hard wired into your kitchen. It takes a 12 volt wiring system though, if I remember correctly. I had mine done this way. I have a dimmer, and driver that operate my undercabinet LED lights. Do a search for LED on the kitchen and the lighting forums. There is a lot of info about it. I have LED undercabinet, incandesent overhead light, and the lights from my range hood in my 7x12' kitchen. I have plenty of light. The LED can come in different "K" temps. Have you gone to a lighting store and looked at the LED displays? I used DIODE LED light brand from a wholesale electric company that my electrition uses. Elemental LED division is the same company that sells retail on line. There is a lot of info on their web site. I've been very happy with my installation.

Here is a link that might be useful: elemental LED web site

Uroboros, Thank you for letting me know that under-cabinet lighting is plugged in and not wired in. The electrician was here and amazingly the 2700K LED bulb gave a similar white light like the halogen above my gas range that I love and looked nice with my tiles.

waterdamage, thanks for letting me know that you had installed 4 LED cans plus one above the sink and a halogen light on a ceiling fan. The Installer suggested I install the fixture and do 4 LED lights. He felt the fixture I chose was too small to light up the kitchen. He felt the light above the range and the light above the sink was all I needed above the counters IF I added the 4 recessed LED lights that really were a nice light. Then he said he would have to email me a price quote. He says the problem is I have a bedroom above the kitchen and not an attic and another problem is I have a soffit which he would need to go through to install the lighting and to make holes in it unless I plan to remove it. I told him I planned to eventually but I am still trying to find a total install price that I will be happy with so I thought I would at least do the lighting.

Thank you enduring for the link and for letting me know that LED's come in different "K" temps and they can be hard wired into your kitchen and put in a dimmer. I love the clear bright light they give that is not glaring I am finding out from the sample light I have here that is amazingly a 2700K from Home Depot that I screwed into a regular lamp to see if I would like the color of the light. I know one cabinet installer felt like I should have under-cabinet lighting. I have two more electricians that will give me estimates and ideas in the next two days.

The lamp I bought takes CFL's or incandescent bulbs.

They make LED's for regular lamps too that screw in like incandescent and CFL'S but I don't think they come in dimmable. I did recently buy a dimmable CFL but haven't put it into my ceiling fixture yet.

We've never had undercabinet lighting before the remodel and my DH and I absolutely love them. They are so helpful. And the LED doesn't get hot. It wasn't cheap but its reported they should last for 20 years.

I had Cree L6 LED canned lights installed in my small kitchen and love them. I did have a dimmer switch installed and they do dim a good bit. I also have Pegasus Lighting's microfluorescent T4 undercabinet lighting and between the two, my lighting is perfect.

Thank you enduring and roryvan! I love the non-glaring LED light but I need a higher white spectrum coloring than 2700 since it makes my tiles not look so great. Wonder if they sell LED recessed lights in 3500K?

I just installed undercabinet LEDs that are hardwired, with no transformer, no plugin. All wired in sequence to a wall switch, no problem. They came from Lowes.

Did you post over on the lighting forum? They might be helpful with your coloring spectrum questions. I visited there a lot when I was first looking at LED, florescent, etc.

srjohnt, thanks for letting me know that I can install LED's under my cabinets with no transformer and no plug-in.

Thank you enduring! I cross posted over to the Lighting Forum. Today the Cree LED light color does not look bad. I wish I changed the lighting in my kitchen first before picking out the tiles. In fact, now I wish I just installed the Brazilian Cherry from the family room in the kitchen so the gray in the tiles would not be a concern on how it looks with the lighting. But they are not returnable and in the sunlight, they are pretty.

Enduring, again I really like your kitchen.

"Wonder if they sell LED recessed lights in 3500K?"

The Cree LR6 series are available in both 2700K and 3500K. I think they are the best on the market. The biggest benefit they have over other brands is a high CRI (color Rendition Index), which means that all colors look natural.

The LED you bought from Home Depot appears to be a rebadged Cree CR6, which is very similar to the Cree LR6. So you already know how good the Cree lights are.

Here is a link that might be useful: Cree LED downlights

PeterH2, Thank you! I think I will try to find an electrician that will bring me over a sample of the 3500K LED Cree LR6, since I really would like to not have hot lights in the ceiling and the CRI is very bright and non-glaring.

I think if I had to, I could live with the 2700K LED Cree light I have here now but I would prefer it to be closer to the Halogen light color.

Lynn,

I suggest you try both the Cree LR6 and the Cree CR6. We tried both in our house and pulled out the LR6s and replaced them with the CR6 lights.

The CR6 lights are actually less expensive than the LR6 lights but they dim much lower than the LR6 lights. The specs don't show a big difference in dimming but I can tell you the difference is very substantial.

Also, the LR6 lights are more sensitive to the type of dimmers used, and we tried a number of different dimmers from the list recommended by Cree before finding ones that were satisfactory.

The Home Depot Cree lights are rebadged CR6s, but they may have changed some of the components because the lifetime is 30,000 hours (I think) instead of the 50,000 hours with CR6 lights from Cree.

See below for a good place to buy.

Billy

Here is a link that might be useful: Good Place for Cree Lights

As for undercabinet lights we used LED lights from Philips/Color-Kinetics. They are fabulous. No transformer needed and they use wall dimmers (they specify the types that work with them).

One of my favorite things about them is they are mounted at the front edge of the cabinet and the curved lens casts the light both down on the counter and against the backsplash.

Billy

Here is a link that might be useful: Philips Undercabinet Lights

Billy, thank you for the two great links! I have another electrician coming by tomorrow and I will discuss with him the CR6 lights since he feels I should go with Halogen 4" MR-16 lights to give a better light but I am afraid they will get so hot.

Good information - thanks! I copied ideas to my email to remind me.
I plan to put "hockey puck" style LED under cabinet as I didn't like the reflection strip of the LED strips. I had not figured out a brand .
I am still figuring out the ceiling and hoping that I can create a theater style lighting system (variable dimming) Has anyone tried this concept or have any recommendations?
My new hood (debating between the Broan evolution and the Zephyr Genova will have Halogen. The Broan has theater style lighting. The Genova is "gorgeous" but may not be as functional.
I also have a breakfast nook with a cathedral ceiling - haven't figure out that one yet....
Thanks again!