Thanks bignick and davidr for the replies. This is a residential kitchen so the HO lamp is probably too bright. ALKCO does sells the "Little Inch" fixture with standard T5 bulbs. I just saw them listed on Lighting Fixtures and Ceiling Fans website. Will call tomorrow re:availability. Also saw the Juno UFL22 and UFL46 at this website.. http://electricsupplieson-line.stores.yahoo.net/juliuf3421wt1.html It comes with a high-efficiency (HE) lamp. How does that look for my needs? Also, must admit that I have started looking at the Kichler Xenon Series II strips. Things seem to be more straight forward and they are readily available at Bellacor with free shipping included! I know Xenon is cooler than halogen but just how hot are they?

I have the same situation. My cabinets have a 3/4-inch trim. I used low-profile xenon under cabinet lights in my kitchen. While the lights are not completely hidden they are "hidden enough" for me. Full disclosure - I work for Pegasus Lighting. The link I have attached to this post is for a blog post I wrote on our blog about my under cabinet lighting. I have pictures of my under cabinet lighting so you can see if they would work for you or not. Here are some other suggestions that may work for your situation. - LED rope light - LED under cabinet task light - Xenon low voltage light strip - You could recess puck lights under your cabinet - Microfluorescent lights (these are very low-profile and we had a customer install these lights on the actual trim piece instead of under the cabinet - so the light was pointing towards the backsplash - it was a very good use of this product) Good luck with your kitchen! Here is a link that might be useful: Xenon Low Profile Under Cabinet Task Lights blog post

Thanks; some great tips here! I am going to check out all these lighting sources y'all have suggested. @ debrak_2008: I'm happier with the cabinets now they're mostly installed, but when I opened the boxes to inspect I nearly cried. Hadn't realized that 'engineered wood' means chipboard. The interiors are cheap looking and the bottoms of the drawers are not durable--I will not be able to store my cast iron cookware, for instance, in the deep drawers. May have to replace some drawer bottoms. Another time I would not buy AW, but perhaps everything will hold up better than I think. Part of the problem is that I live in an area rife with great craftsmen and artists, so I look at, and appreciate, fabulous, high-quality and deeply individual cabinetry etc on a daily basis, but can't afford to buy it!! @ gpraceman: We chose DW because we wanted one switch for everything and we were putting in new sheetrock and wiring anyway. According to the electrician, if you buy the cheaper lights, you will end up paying dearly for replacement bulbs etc. One of his customers who went for the cheap lights told him he'd already spent as much again in replacement bulbs. No idea. Still worrying over counter choice--LOVE the butcher block but I freak out over the water issue. If we do it, we will definitely choose an IKEA sink with integrated drainboard. (Not sure why integrated drainboards are otherwise so hellishly expensive in the US.) Still contemplating tile. Husband doesn't want laminate. I am SO not good at this stuff. I really appreciated all the helpful and thoughtful suggestions.

I don't know how the IKEA LED strips compare with the non-IKEA ones but I wasn't drawn to them, and I'm pretty pro-IKEA and value driven (as opposed to low-cost driven, that is, I love lower cost but only if it's a good value). I suspect they are just LED tape strips, and I had decided I wanted bars and not tape. As for installing lights inside a piece of furniture, have you considered the stick-on lights that you can put anywhere and that are either battery-operated (so you can swap out batteries when the lights dim) or LED? They are usually sold in 3-packs at Bed Bath, Home Depot etc. and are not expensive, we put them inside our last kitchen's dark cabinets and they really kept us sane when looking in the back (and in our new kitchen we only did drawers and pull-out cabinets on the deeper bottoms, and regular cabinets up top, so we don't have that issue anymore). Follow up - I wavered between Environmental Lights and Juno, both with a dimmer, and ended up having the Juno's installed and decided I hated them, but couldn't afford to uninstall them and install the Environmental Lights, so returned the Environmental Lights and lost a restocking fee and shipping but was impressed with Environmental Lights overall and how they were helpful and customer service oriented and would seriously consider buying from them in the future - but I can't speak to how the lights would have looked or worked. As for the Juno's, I now fairly well love them, they are fully dimmable piece by piece and turn off piece by piece so the look is customizable from hour to hour, and when all 3 fixtures are turned on at the wall switch and fully "on" the light is brilliant and dramatic. So I'm fairly happy with them but not thrilled with Juno overall - the Home Depot dimmer-dial model I bought has NO diffuser which really hurts the eyes when used with a shiny quartz countertop (I used the Environmental Lights diffusers out of frustration), and Juno's customer service people had no fixes and no suggestions for this problem, and basically wash their hands of these models since they are the "Home Depot brand". Plus Environmental Lights responds to emails on weekends and Juno has no customer service outside of business hours. Overall while I like the Juno lights fine, I prefer Environmental Lights as a company.