Lighting kitchen base cabinets... looking for ideas

Hi all,

I want to light the base cabinets I'm constructing for my kitchen. I'm looking for ideas on how to do that. I was looking on my local Home Depot and my initial idea is to use reccessed alogen lamps, the same that are usually installed to light rooms. But I'm afraid this lamps get too hot. Is it safe to reccess these on particleboard? Are there other light sources availables specially for this? I've seen pictures on wall cabinets lighted with lamps but never I've seen them inside a base. Any ideas on how to do that?

Any hint is welcomed Thanks in advance Sammy

Reply to
SammyBar
Loading thread data ...

Look for the LED lights. They are very low power and no heat. Downside: A slightly blue cast.

Reply to
Woodhead

This sounds like a great upgrade. I'm sure it will make your kitchen look very high class!

How do you plan to recess them in? My cabinets all have 3/4" board for their bottoms...is there a special bit for hammer drills or something that will cut the 3" (or whatever the diameter of a halogen lamp is) recess?

Reply to
kellyj00

Home Depot and Lowes (and others) sell halogen puck lights that can be recessed or installed with their trim ring. If the apron around the bottom of the wall cabinets is deep enough it will hide the trim rings (no cutting). They are reasonably priced and easy to install. I couldn't find them on the Lowe's or Home Depot web sites but I believe they go by a brand or type name of EZ halogen lights.

They do get warm. When installed flush, they require an inch or two of free space above. I installed two in a curio cabinet a year ago and they work well. They are mounted flush in a false top about 2" below the cabinet top and heating is not a problem.

RonB

Reply to
RonB

Aside from the possible fire hazards (which I don't know enough about to speak on) you might want to avoid halogen or recessed under-cabinet lights. First, kitchens can get pretty warm anyhow, and it might be uncomfortable to work with the hands and arms close under a hot lamp. Second, the recessed cans will take up space inside the cabinets. How about surface-mounted fluorescents?

Reply to
pawlowsk002

I agree. But I think the LED suggestion is *very* interesting. That should offer the advantages of low power, low heat and a low profile, if one can find a suitably configured product.

And if anyone does find such a beast, I too would be very interested indeed!

Reply to
Malcolm Hoar

Reply to
Pat Barber

Depending on the amount of light you desire you might also want to consider "rope lighting:.

formatting link

Reply to
Nova

My initial idea is to make some special small box to contain the lamp and screw that box to the bottom of the ceill of the cabinet. If the cabinet does not contains a drawer I can screw the box to the countertop bottom . If it is a drawer, I should put an additional horizontal division below the drawer to hold the "lamp box"...

Reply to
SammyBar

The local Lowes has several LED models in stock. They aren't shown on the Web site though. They have both puck and strip models. Not sure how bright they are compared to fluorescent though--it's hard to tell in the store.

Reply to
J. Clarke

How about rope lighting abound the edge?

Reply to
Phillip Devoll

Reply to
nospambob

Under cabinet fluorescents.

Thin GE fluorescents units (not low-voltage) make great task lights. We got ours from Home Depot. We put them in when we remodeled our kitchen. We had also modeled Halogen and Xenon under cabinet pucks and rope lighting before we decided to go with the fluorescent lighting. We were looking for task lighting not accent lighting.

We ended up with a lighting strategy of flood light cans in the ceiling and under cabinet fluorescents for task lighting. The combination eliminates distracting shadows when working on the counters. The GE fluorescent units, which come in different thicknesses (heights) and lengths, light the counter tops, including a corner and over the sink. The under cabinet lighting is on one wall switch. The ceiling flood lights are on two other switches.

We have an interior kitchen with no windows that could supplement the artificial lighting.

Us old farts need all the light we can get and we are extremely pleased with the results!

John Jacksonville, Florida

Reply to
John Flatley

HomeOwnersHub website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.