William Sommerwerck wrote:
I like the idea of recycling notebook backlights, rather than tossing them.

Building one from scratch is going to be pricey, because white LEDs have not
gotten really cheap. And all the ones I've seen have a bluish tinge which
might be disconcerting in the kitchen.

Agreed. However, I have seen large LED panels used for *outdoor*
lighting suggesting that it is viable (one up the street lights
the interior of a 15' x 15' ramada after sunset). Of course, The
City paid for those so who knows what the real price was! :-/

GE used to make "stick-up" fluorescents, which could be attached with screws
or double-sided tape. I don't think they're made anymore, but you might
look.

Yes, but they are too thick. Even using a very thin/long tube
(1/2") puts you at or beyond the ~3/4" recess available.
A CCFP from a laptop or a (page) scanner is *nice* and thin.
Maybe the solution is to just use the CCFL *tube* and omit the
LCD monitor's diffuser (then the inverter could be located
adjacent to the tube without fear of casting shadows into
the diffuser?)