"Dragonfire" wrote in message
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Hey all. We are thinking of redoing our kitchen and were thinking that
under cabinet lighting would be a nice addition. I know that the
hardwired version uses a transformer, but my big question is do the
lights mounted under the cabinet protrude up into the cabinets and take
away space? (kind of defeats the purpose)
The lights I saw at the diy store seem kind of big to go under the
cabinets.
any help or personal experience would be appreciated.

I just finished a kitchen remodel and did a lot of research, mostly by
Googling and using forums such as this, and looked at lots of setups in
lighting stores and in remodeled and new houses in my area. Settled on the
Kichler series of low voltage undercabinet modular Xenon lights, with
similar spectrum to halogen. We are totally happy with the effect, and their
utility. They come in several lengths and number of bulbs per unit, so can
be tailored to the cabinet lengths you have. I used everything from the
single bulb unit, up to the four bulb unit. They have two position rocker
switches, for subtle and bright work light level, but are gang switched to a
wall switch for convenience. The light boxes have diffuser glass windows,
come in a few color choices, and self contained stepdown transformers,
modular plug in wires, and compact plastic junction boxes to hook up the
110v pigtails to the modular wiring. We had the cabinets made with 1 1/2
inch lips, so the one-inch thick light boxes are hidden, unless you are near
floor level. The electrician left 110v romex pigtails sticking out under
each run of cabinets, all switched to the switch at the kitchen entrance -
and tend to mostly leave the boxes on the low light rocker setting (it would
have been better located at the sink!) I got the units at Reliance Lighting
(www.rlights.com) in Salt Lake City. They have competitive prices and are
super to work with. I generally found the lighting choices at big box stores
really wanting, and cheap looking. I tended to go to high end lighting-only
stores, look at real set ups, consult with my electrician, who has installed
thousands of lights, then go to the internet for the best prices. I bought
literally all my electrical and most plumbing on the net. When making large
orders, many online retailers feature free shipping.
Bottom Line, very little is given up for the small space needed for the
lights, and the lights are essential in my view, as no ceiling light will
penetrate under the cabinets.

Don't forget potential other lighting needs. We put strings of incandescent
rope lights on the top of the cabinets behind the crown moulding to kill the
dark areas of the kitchen corners, halogen spots over the sink area, and
about 15 ceiling compact low voltage halogen track lights for general
lighting. The halogen track fixtures we got from www.eclecticlighting.com ,
a Texas company. They have good prices on bulbs of all focal lengths and
wattages, but from time to time have slow shipping times.
Good Luck.