IKEA in my last home: This photo is of a 7 year old kitchen, the door style is no longer available. The kitchen was tiny, 9' wide by about 11' that I opened into a dining room to make it more functional. The ceiling was slightly less than 8' in some areas, very sloped, and as you can see, the uppers went within an inch or two to the ceiling. I set the bases higher than usual, and the space under the cabinets after 2" light molding was about 17" which was adequate, but not generous. It was a very functional layout, I cooked and baked several times a week, and the cabinets interiors were pristine when I sold the house. No failed hardware, no chipped laminate inside the cabinet boxes where pots/pans/knives were stored and I never lined a shelf or a drawer in this kitchen. The shelf where I stored oils cleaned up with soap and water with no residual yellowing or gumminess. Cabinet fronts had a tough baked on finish that cleaned with soap and water, or BONA finished wood spray and a towel and were not streaky. The cabinet doors did occasionally scratch, though not in a way that was not to be expected from wood, and I tried several brands of brown children's markers and found the brand that matched best, and kept a few in one of the cabinets so when I cleaned and noticed a scratch, I could fill it in. Though I did use the 39" uppers, you should know that I rarely used the things stored on the highest shelves and didn't really know what was on some shelves until I moved because the shelves were too high for me, or my over 6' relatives without using a chair. I was mounting to old cracking plaster with irregularly spaced studs on a very sloped floor so I screwed a leveled 2x4 to the bottom of the wall where the bottom of the base boxes were to rest, and a 1x4 behind where the top of the base boxes were to be and used the IKEA provided screws to mount the base box brackets to the 1x4. It was very sturdy when done and the granite guys were appreciative and had no issues with installation. The cabinets are trimmed out in standard end panels, and the peninsula has a 3'x8' panel trimmed to cover it. The store associates drew pictures for me to show me how to use the trim they provided. I had a miter saw that I rented for the day for the light rail, and used a jigsaw for the rest with a laminate blade and masking tape to prevent pulling the veneer off when cutting. What is different today compared to when I bought the 2004 kitchen is the boxes above were made in Germany and now they are made in the US. I put in IKEA boxes in my new house and the quality is the same, as far as I can see. The door fronts above were made in Spain and now they are made in the US. The hinges and drawer hardware are still German Blum, but now soft close is included in the price, though you can purchase the soft close pieces separately, and take them off your order if you wish. The new version of the lazy susan is an improvement over the old one. I loved the appearance of the slim door pulls visually, but functionally, the ends were square and things used to get caught on them as I went by, but that is not an IKEA issue, per se. IKEA 39 CABINETS ARE 39 1/8. If you ceilings are 92 and you are set on 39, you can fudge the bases down a bit and still have 17" below uppers to the counter tops. As long as you guys aren't tall, you maybe ok with this as most appliances are under 16. I do not recommend this, I would personally go with the 30" boxes mounted higher and then extend the molding to the ceiling, I think this would give the room more visual height, but there are designers on this site that could give you the best insight for how to do this. I have had three IKEA kitchens now with various levels of customization, and I would say that if you can use the boxes they have, it is the best deal, and if you can find a door front you like, the deal gets even better. There are enough panel sizes available to customize with.

sks-I am not familiar with them. Are you sure you can't house a transformer? We are planning on housing ours in a 12" cabinet. I have included a link to the one that I believe (dh has it with him so I can't compare the part number exactly but if you need me to I will ask him for it) is identical to what we just bought and have used before with no problems - dimmable also. The switch we purchased is a paddle with a thin lever that runs along side of the paddle that you move up and down to control the brightness. They are now stock from the place we bought them from the first time whereas originally they were special order so I think they are pretty mainstream ? Scroll down on the link and you'll see the dimensions on the transformer are (you need the low voltage or else the led's will flicker): 3 1/2" L x 1 1/2" W x 1 1/4" H. I hope someone else can help with what you are looking at. I really think the WAC is a viable option for you though. It was about $250 for the transformer, switch and LED tape for our new kitchen. Here is a link that might be useful: WAC lighting transformer

My first post, but have some experience in electrical and now lately the WAC brand. Transformers need to be readily accessible, such as back of cabinets, basement, or in a closet. Locations that would be frowned upon: Above upper cabinets requiring a ladder, underneath bottom cabinets requiring kneeling and removing toe kick. Therefore, put it wherever it meets your design criteria. Can mount transformer inside cabinet but depending if it is a plug-in or direct wire application. If plug-in, then need outlet gang box that is fed from non-accessible part of the cabinet. Direct wire would require conduit into a knock-out. Just note, if you can pull your lighting load from a lighting circuit, not any of kitched outlets. That is code but I doubt a 1A load will really make a difference since we are dealing with LED's these days. Joiner cables can be run thru wall but need to be "in-wall" rated or meet CSA rating. Class 2 wiring I believe also meets. Since I've dealt with WAC, they have joiner cable that is "in-wall" rated and not. Make sure to use the correct one. To save money, use "in-wall" speaker wiring if making a long run to a gang of lights. Thermostat wiring is good also if decent gauge. Then use their lead wire of various lengths to connect the in-wall wiring to the strip light. Splices can be made in the wall but I don't recommend it for a couple reasons. One their connections are not strong, meaning they can easily disconnect just from their own cable weight. Second would be for trouble shooting. Use a small gang box to tie multiple leads with wire nuts or better yet Wago terminal blocks. Ideally would be to have these connections protected inside of box but not required. That would eliminate the 3/4-way costs also.

Thanks! @anj_p I agree about the island being a barrier. I had placed the fridge at the end of the run with the range, but just to the side of the kitchen is the main entry way (split level house) and the side of the fridge/fridge panel would be the first thing you see and would block the view in to the rest of the kitchen. I added the shallow 15" cabinets there to keep things feeling more open. The nice part about where the fridge is placed currently is that we're reconfiguring that wall, so we can set a full depth fridge in to the wall to look more 'counter depth'. I do agree about the fridge location not being ideal though... I just haven't been able to find a better solution... @acm I'm planning on having an open shelf that will go along that 1 foot gap and turn the corner and run along the wall beside the sink. I think I'll change it back to a solid door instead of glass, as I agree there isn't really an advantage. Thanks!