Undercabinet lighting ???

I'm about to start making the upper cabinets of a kitchen project and I was wondering if it would be a good idea to add a couple of extra inches to the length of the cabinet and face frame to accommodate under cabinet lighting? All suggestions welcome. Mikey

Reply to
mbaybut
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Absolutely! Just added undercabinet lighting to our house 3 months ago. Luckly the low profile lighting fit within the cabinet lip so the wiring does not show. Makes a huge difference, functionally and aesthetically. Go for it!

Reply to
Chris Carruth

Undercabinet lighting is great. We put in some halogen bulb strip lights under all our kitchen cabinets, wired up to wall switches. The lighting fixtures are completely hidden behind the bottom lip (only about an inch deep) of the face frame, and the light is really wonderful.

One thing we didn't consider when we did it is that you need to be a contortionist to get under there to change bulbs, compounded by the fact that the fixtures we bought are a pain to open up to get to the bulbs. Look at the fixtures you're thinking of buying and make sure they'll be easy to get at when bulbs need to be changed.

Reply to
Roy Smith

I just installed lighting for the second time in a kitchen. We loved it so much the first time, that it was absolutely on the list for the current remodel.

We used Kichler. They are fabulous. They are also not cheap, but this is our last kitchen.

Easy access to bulbs, low power, modular design (but you'll probably need the parts ;fixture, power distribution box, cables; to figure out exactly how you'll connect them), two levels of light (plus "off") at the fixture.

- - LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

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Reply to
LRod

I just finished a set of cabinets with toe kick lighting. I just made a typical toe space 3 1/2" high and 3 1/2" deep. The strip lighting was attached at the upper back corner. Unless you are kneeling down and looking under the toe space, you can't directly see the lighting.

Preston

Reply to
Preston Andreas

Chris,

What type of lighting did you install?

It the past, I've tried the halogen 'hockey pucks' and felt they put off too much heat. I've tried Xenon 'hockey pucks' and 'light rope' and was disappointed.

We had GE Premium No hum fluorescent lights installed with our new kitchen cabinets installed last week. 2 13" under the cabinets and a 24" over the sink. This setup provides accent lighting but it isn't enough for task lighting. The Corian counter top and the Corian on the wall under the cabinets has a light grey background. The Corian does not produce any glare. Just the opposite. The light grey seem to absorb the light.

We are still struggling to find a way to improve the task lighting. Any thoughts or suggestions from you or the group would be appreciated.

Jack

Reply to
John Flatley

i've seen this more than once. watched a friend tear out the whole top above his cabinets after most of them burned out just to change the bulbs.

as you say, buy the ones that you can replace the bulb from the outside instead of the back side, or build in such a way that you can get to them.

randy

Reply to
xrongor

On Fri, 11 Jun 2004 22:45:13 GMT, "Preston Andreas" calmly ranted:

That sounds like a perfect fit for rope lighting some Yuppie's kitchen. Oy vay! ;)

Reply to
Larry Jaques

The better undercabinet fluorescents are less than 1-1/4" vertically.

You don't have to add much.

Reply to
Robert Bonomi

Couple of suggestions -- 1) replace the "warm white" bulbs with cool white ones, or 'daylight white' if you can find 'em. They are somewhat higher output, than the warm white ones. In addition, the human eye is more sensitive to the 'bluer' colors, vs the 'reddish' ones. 2) if you look hard, you can find under-cabinet fixtures with two _parallel_ bulbs. Not surprisingly, these put out significantly more light than single-row fixtures.

Carefully rubber-cementing a sheet of tin-foil (shiny side towards the bulbs :) to the inside of the fixture will increase the apparent light output. (a piece of mirror is the 'ultimate' for this, but it's usually only a few percentage points better than any kind of 'bright polished' metal. And tin-foil runs away with the 'budget' honors in that class )

If the fixture is truly 'out of sight', simply _leave_off_ the plastic 'diffuser' that covers the bulbs.

Also, a coat of _bright_white_ paint on the bottom of the cabinetry will make a surprising difference.

A secret for getting a durable 'bright' white -- add just at pinch of _black_ tint to it. With the typical custom-tinting systems (ones that generally use multiples of '4 units' of a given tint, per gallon of paint) doing up a gallon with the full quantity of 'white', and then adding _two_ 'units' of black, works well.

The painting contractor that I learned this from, explained it thusly:

"We add a little bit of black, to make it look blue, so it won't turn yellow."

It's impressive how well it works. :)

Reply to
Robert Bonomi

Reply to
Wilson

Absotively it's the best thing you can do for a kitchen. But first, a thing or two about it.

1) We bought ours from Home Depot. I can't remember the exact model but it was the "higher end" GE product. These are the ones that are hard wired into the home electrical grid. They are the "slim line" (1 1/4" high?/sorry, too lazy to get off my dead ass to measure) and all are wired to a central wall switch. You can get the ones with the plug end and switch them individually but A) I didn't want to be dealing with the cord and B) it's a pain in the ass to walk around and flick them on individually. By the way, not all Home Depots carry this model so don't give up too soon. Also, you can look for a supplier of Alco Little Inch fixtures but the cost will increase semi-significantly.

2) Go as large as possible with the lights. The individual light don't throw off a great deal of light though in combination they do a great job of flooding the area.

3) Raise the bottom deck (i.e., the door stays put) of your cabinets by 2 1/2". Install a light valance behind the doors (3/4" X 2 1/2" toe screwed (Kreg drill) into the bottom of the cabinet bottom. This will block the light from shining through the gap between the meeting edges of the doors.

4) Wall color (colour David) will affect/effect the look of things as will the underside of your cabinets.

5) Stand back when you are done and marvel at how damn good it all looks. No really, you can believe me on this one.

UA100

Reply to
Unisaw A100

I'm not sure if you meant to just extend the face frame or make other adjustments to accomodate the extended face frame. Be sure you don't end up shortening the distance between the upper cabinets and the countertop too much. There are some countertop fancy coffee makers and electric mixers that are pretty tall. The kitchenaid electric mixer is a very popular and tall appliance. We put ceramic tile over existing countertops and now our electric mixer won't fit under the upper cabinets.

I saw a mention about halogen under cabinet lighting. Be aware that these little suckers get HOT, even the 10 watt model. I live in a hot area (Houston) where we worry about heat loads because we have to air condition so many months of the year.

Bob

Reply to
Bob Davis

One thing you can use that doesn't get very hot is rope lights. They are getting pretty cheap these days. I have rope liight on motion detectors in the hallways (in crown), kitchen and bath so you can walk around at night and have the light follow you. It is a lot better than having the wife using the refrigerator lamp as a night light.

Reply to
Greg

Besides extending the frame to get some additional space, add molding to the bottom of the cabinet that extends about

1/2" to 1" below the bottom of the face frame. This gives you a fancier look, allows for a deeper lighting fixture and adds continuity along the bottom edge of the cabinets.

JAW

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Reply to
JAW

of the cabinet that extends about

allows for a deeper lighting fixture and

That's what my cabinet guy did. From the bottom of the molding to the underside of the cabinet is >2". You REALLY have to get down and under to see the fixtures.

- - LRod

Master Woodbutcher and seasoned termite

Shamelessly whoring my website since 1999

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Reply to
LRod

At illuminolighting.com we make the best custom cut Under cabinet lighting. We build them specially for you in 1-2 days.

Reply to
nyku69

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