If you're only going to choose just one lighting feature to add your kitchen, make it under cabinet lighting. It provides task lighting for your countertops to make them ideal for food preparation and cooking, it illuminates the backsplash on your wall to create beautiful accent lighting, and it can also be used as night lighting for your kitchen. Once you install under cabinet lighting, you'll never want to go back.
Many lighting designers talk about creating "layers of light" for your kitchen. Under cabinet lighting serves as a crucial "layer" for great design.
That being said, there are a ton of options to choose from. How do you know what style of under cabinet lighting is right for your kitchen? Hopefully, this guide will make it a little easier to make your selection.
It's a good idea to choose your light source first.
1. Fluorescent, Xenon, or LED?
Fluorescent Under Cabinet Lights
Fluorescent under cabinet lights are the most energy efficient in providing a given amount of light. Moreover, fluorescent light sources give off very little heat. This is a great feature depending on what is stored in the cabinet immediately above the under cabinet fixture or, perhaps, what is lying 12 to 18 inches below the light. While most fluorescent fixtures cannot be dimmed, they can be a wonderful, inexpensive option. In addition, our Microfluorescent Fixtures or Fluorescent Swivel Sticks are probably the easiest products to install – a definite plus.
Xenon Under Cabinet Lights
Xenon lights are not quite as energy efficient and do give off some heat but they have full dimming capacity, and they give off an attractive warm light. (If you love the warm glow of an incandescent light bulb, xenon under cabinet lights are for you). While they're not cool to the touch, the amount of heat emitted is still substantially lower than halogen lights. Heat output can be an important consideration with under cabinet lighting since you're often installing the lights directly on the underside of food storage cabinets – and above any produce sitting out on the counter. For this reason, we don't sell halogen under cabinet lights.
LED Under Cabinet Lights
If you're looking for the most energy efficient option, go with LEDs. Although most LEDs cannot be dimmed, some fixtures have two levels of brightness which allows for some flexibility. LEDs are also cool to the touch and will last for 50,000 hours before needing replacement bulbs (that's almost six years). The initial price tag is a bit more expensive but if you consider your future savings in energy, LED under cabinet lights start to make a lot of sense. They also give off a brilliant white light that is very appealing for kitchen design.
2. Puck or Linear?
The style of the fixture is another consideration. We usually recommend installing linear under cabinet lights because they provide uniform, well-distributed light for the entire countertop and eliminate shadows. However, a number of people prefer the style of under cabinet puck lights for the kitchen, which create pools of light in more focused areas. Either type of light works fine, this is really just a matter of preference.
3. Recessed or Surface mount?
A lot of people assume that non-recessed under cabinet lights will have fixtures jutting out unattractively from underneath the cabinets. This really isn't the case –most of the surface-mount options are so thin that you'd have to literally stick your head underneath the cabinet and look up to see the actual fixture. The good news is that it's hard to go wrong on this decision. If you absolutely love the seamless look of recessed lighting – even when it's hidden – check out the recessed under cabinet lights (but keep in mind that all of the recessed options are also puck lights).
Low-Profile Surface Mount Under Cabinet Lights
There's a much larger selection of surface mount under cabinet lights. The most low-profile surface mount under cabinet lights are the Microfluorescent T4 Light Fixtures. The Xenon Line Voltage Thin Under Cabinet Task Lights are also very low-profile and are some of our most popular under cabinet lights. Our VP, Chris Johnson, actually installed these into his home. Check out his blog post to see before and after pictures if you're interested.
4. Hardwire or Plug-in?
Lighting fixtures that are "hardwired" are connected directly to the power source using a ROMEX® wire (this is what is used behind your walls to wire your entire house). Plug-in under cabinet lights, of course, require you to plug in a cord to your nearest electrical outlet. Decide what your preference is for type of installation and placement – if there's not a well-placed outlet in your kitchen, you'll probably want to go with hardwire. A number of our under cabinet lights can be set up to be either hardwire or plug-in, but there are a few that do not have both options, so just check out the product listings of hardwire under cabinet lighting and plug-in under cabinet lighting.
