Found the name - they are Philips ewCove lights. They were displayed under a cabinet in the lighting store but I suppose they are meant for cove lighting. Not sure if it matters. My kitchen is still very much a work in progress but the LED lights got installed. When I first turned them on, I freaked b/c the light was so weak. Then I realized the dimmer knob was nearly off. I turned them up and they shine nicely. Taken without flash at night. Yes, I know I need to replace those upper cabinet shelves with glass :) Im pretty sure the xenons pucks I had in my old kitchen were brighter. But these are certainly bright enough for my purposes. They have a low profile, are adjustable so I can direct the light on the backsplash or on the countertops or somewhere in between. They are absolutely cool to touch, don't require transformers and are dimmable. I have no clue how long these will last so thats the only question mark I have about them now. Hope that helps.

My new cabinets will have about 3/4" space beneath them - I don't really like the look of a light rail, so I'm hoping I can tuck some sort of undercabinet lighting in there. I prefer fluorescents because I'm afraid even xenon will be too "hot" for me, and I also want very even illumination (no pools of light on my dark countertops). The lowest-profile I've found so far is from W.A.C. at about 7/8" - I'm thinking this might work if I install the lights more mid-cabinet than in the front. (It's a small galley kitchen without a table or chairs, so I don't know that I'll ever be far back enough to notice if the lights come down a bit farther than the cabinet.) Does anyone know of any options that are yet more low-profile? Thanks!

Molding is always a key to achieving a more custom look. Multiple piece stacked crown as well as light rail molding. Even modern kitchens with slab doors can look more custom if you choose the appropriate finishing touch. All cabinets look better with proper lighting. Under cabinet lighting as well as the proper amount of recessed lighting, semi-flush lighting and pendants. That will show off your cabinets to their best, no matter what brand they are. Proper installation. A good installer can take 5K worth of cabinets and make them look like 50K worth, and a hack installer can butcher 50K worth of cabinets to look like cheap crap with a poor install. Not saying that this is beyond the realm of a DIYer if they have good finish carpentry skills, but yes, it IS beyond 95% of most DIYers. Having the proper "surroundings". Putting in a gorgeous new kitchen in a home that doesn't match it stylistically or with the same level of detail just makes it look wrong. If you live in a center hall Colonial and want Tuscan Old world cabinets with gazillions of grape corbels and onlays, it will only look transplanted from Mars, not an integral part of the home itself. Also, if the rest of the house is standard 8' ceilings, with minimal builder grade moldings and popcorn ceilings, unless the kitchen is the start of redoing the whole house to a higher level, you don't want to be putting in super premium cherry cabinets with elaborate stacked moldings and an exotic granite and a pro style range. It's not appropriate to the level of the rest of the home. It works vice versa too. If you live in an expensive neighborhood of custom homes where SubZero's and Wolf's are everywhere, putting in a Maytag range and off the shelf cabinets from Home Depot won't cut it either. The most successful kitchen remodels give you a "wow" without a "WOW!" factor. Bad quality materials and installation are more apparent than are good quality materials used in a more subtle manner appropriate to the home. You want the room to look current, without being a slave to current fashion, as that will quickly date it.

I prefer wood shelving. You can do LED tap lighting on the front frame and it illuminates the whole cabinet even with the wood shelves. Here's a photo of my dining room built in that I did over 12 years ago. Beneath that picture is a showroom photo of my Shiloh Display showing glass front cabinet w/ wood shelves. We used 3000K tape light on the front frames. With wood shelves you can have a piece of molding nailed in place at the back as a 'stop' for dishes and platters you want to stand upright. My hutch came with a groove at the back but it was a custom cabinet line. Molding works too.