Under cabinet lighting - what is your GO-TO brand that is not $$$$$$$$$?

[Todd Burch]

I'm pricing some under-cabinet and in-cabinet lighting from my supplier. Holy cow this stuff has gone up.

I've got two quotes so far, and both seem high.

I need 6 pucks for in-cabinet lighting, dimmable.

I need 10 pucks for under-cabinet lighting, dimmable.

My guy has priced LED lighting from two different sources. The first quote, ~$750 (Tresco, recently acquired by rev-a-shelf), was for 16 lights, power supplies, dimmers and on-off switches, plus some extra cords and plug-blocks. I asked him what he had at a lower price point.

The next quote was $750 as well, but a different brand, (his in-house brand, Sensio) and did not seem as desirable, as it appears the dimmers are located in the power supply, and the power supplies will be on top of the upper cabinets 8' in the air. Not sure on this aspect - the spec sheet or picture did not say.

For those of you who buy these a lot, what do you use?

I don't need LED, but if I got them, I would get the warm white. I want a black trim ring and flush (recessed) mount. I have about 1 1/8" inches available for recessed lights. I want all 6 in-cabinet lights to be on the same dimmer and on/off switch, and all 10 under-cabinets lights to be on their own dimmer and on/off switch.

Both sets will be plugged into switched outlets that are above the upper cabinets, so I could forgo an integrated on/off switch, and I suspect touch-dimmer might have an off position too.

I would prefer a touch-dimmer as opposed to rotary or slide.

Thanks, Todd

[Jamie Buxton]

"Holy cow this stuff has gone up." Not really. You jumped technologies. LEDs are quite expensive, at least in initial purchase price. Halogens (or Xenons) are much more affordable. Pegasus is a good source for both kinds of lights. http://www.pegasuslighting.com/

[Mike Metz]

try http://www.cshardware.com/lighting/led.asp not sure if its what you need exactly, but they have a nice selection

[Peter Kelly]

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?193464-Recessed-halogen-cabinet-light-sets

[Thomas S Stockton]

Try www.outwater.com they have a pretty extensive selection and their prices are pretty good
Tom

[Jefferey Scott]

I am using these guys for my under cabinet lighting: http://inspiredled.com (http://Www.inspiredled.com)

[Sam Murdoch]

My designer wife buys her lighting from this company http://www.nslusa.com/xenontask.html
She will tell you that LED technology is still developing and though it is certainly the technology of the future the industry hasn't got it all together yet.

Her recommendations for "under cabinet" lighting is the NSL Xenon pan lights. These are line voltage lights rather the low voltage and can be switched at the unit or also from a wall switch. The bulbs last forever (10,000 hours) but most importantly for under cabinet lighting is that the diffuser is excellent and so virtually eliminates the spotty lighting you get with puck lights. If you look through this NSL web site you will see that they also offer mini Xenons - low voltage pucks - which are good for lighting inside cabinets. They also offer an extensive LED product line. Again from my wife "if you are lighting cabinet interiors there is nothing more workable and effective than the LED strip lighting". These are low voltage, very flexible ribbons with tiny LEDs attached that can be placed behind a face frame to light up the interior of a cabinet from top to bottom to great effect. They are display light not task lights. Worth a look.

[Todd Burch]

I looked at both the Sensia and Tresco lines today at my supplier. Both are very nice. I'm still studying which direction I will go.

The super-thin strip lighting is nice. Plenty bright and very low profile - would fit in just about any corner behind a face frame - I think 3/8" is about all you need to hide it.

For $$ reasons, I'll probably go with Xenon. I think I can do the whole kitchen for around $300 with Xenon. $800 is just too much for decorative lighting.

[Matt Meiser]

I bought mine at Lowes (LED) and they are mediocre. If I was doing it again I'd buy the rolls of LED tape for cheap on Ebay and go that route. A friend that works in the business recommeds sticking the tape to aluminum strip as a heat sink for max life. And it would make installation a little easier.

[Sam Layton]

Todd,
I know LED lights are expensive. However, Xenon lights are very hot. I don't like the worry of the heat. I installed LED in my kitchen, and leave them on for hours every night. There is no issue of heat at all, and with no issue of heat, there is no issue of fire.

If I was a client, I would pay the additional $500 to get the LED.

Sam

[Todd Burch]

I know they are hot, but not as hot as halogen. I about burned my house down with Halogen several years ago. In the middle of a kitchen remodel, circa '86, I left a brand new halogen puck face down inside a cabinet, and ON, overnight. The next morning - we had smoke and a 1" hole burned through the bottom of the cabinet.

If Xenon's weren't safe, they would not be sold. Are they hot? Yes. Are they the worst? No.

[Jason Roehl]

Here's a bit o' trivia for you--the filament in a halogen bulb actually operates at a lower temperature than the filament in a standard incandescent bulb. For identical wattages, a halogen is more efficient (more light, less heat). An incandescent light would have done the same thing as the halogen puck light if the incandescent came in a puck format. I almost caught my truck on fire a similar way--I was driving and noticed an odd, sweet odor that I attributed to a restaurant. 5 blocks later, I figured I should no longer be able to smell that restaurant. I look toward my passenger seat and realize that I had accidentally switched on a 500k candlepower spotlight that was face-down on the seat--and there were curls of smoke coming off the seat!

I used to be able to get 100W halogen bulbs that I would put in a desk lamp. They had an extra-heavy glass enclosure that was only warm to the touch--it could be on for hours and I could easily remove it with my bare hands.

[Andy Wojteczko]

I have used 12 volt LED strip lights for under my kitchen cabinets. They are adhesive backed. You cut them to length add a wired connection and connect them to a 12 volt power supply. They work very nice. You can actually get a remote control with dimmer option to control them.

Andy