Suggestion for undercabinet puck light

[mike waters]

I am searching for integrated undercabinet luck lights.
Mines that would be recessed into the bottom of the cabinet and not visible when cabinet is open.

any suggestions?

[Bill Adamsen]

While not exactly a puck light, the Legrand system was installed in a kitchen I worked on recently and I was impressed. The electrician did complain about how tight the channel wiring was. If I'm remembering correctly, it has three circuits ... 20 amp receptacles, switched (and dimmable) 15 amp lighting and plug in modules for low voltage like USB charging. They were low visibility (at least for my height) with just a 1" bottom recess, and the led lighting looked great. Light output was in the warm spectrum (2700k), color rendering looked good and the bulbs were dimmable and produced little heat. I also liked the outlets and attachments. The outlets were easily accessible for counter appliances (45°) and looked good. No idea how much it cost but it looked expensive.

I remember the days of the small xenon bulbs you couldn't touch during install, that burned out twice a year, and were hot enough to cook an egg. We have become much more civilized!

[Jim Becker]

Lee Valley has such animals. And today is a free shipping day for orders over $40.

That said, I prefer LED tape for this application because of better light distribution. There are tracks/covers available that essentially allow you to flush mount in the same manner as the puck lights you ask about.

[Adam Herman]

IKEA has a pretty nice aluminum track with led lights. this is what we used. they also have different puck style solutions that can be customized.

[mike waters]

The good has puck lights.
so my wife wants pick lights that are recessed inside of the cabinet...

[Jamie Buxton]

I used to use halogen puck lights, recessed into the bottom of kitchen uppers. They gave great light, but were otherwise kinda sketchy. They were only a tad less than 3/4" thick, so the recess had to be just right. They gave off so much heat that you could feel it inside the cabinet. And the heat eventually destroyed the fixture. If I were doing recessed puck lights nowadays, I'd be sure to use LED ones.

However, like Jim, I now use LED tape under kitchen uppers. Better light distribution, and little heat.

[Brian Henderson]

And they're really easy to install, which is an even bigger bonus. My problem with puck lights is that they give you good light in the immediate vicinity, but are worthless otherwise. You either need a lot of them, close together or you have to put up with light spots and dark spots. Strip LEDs take care of that problem and give you consistent lighting along the entire surface.

[Tim Bueler]

I used to use halogen puck lights, recessed into the bottom of kitchen uppers. They gave great light, but were otherwise kinda sketchy. They were only a tad less than 3/4" thick, so the recess had to be just right. They gave off so much heat that you could feel it inside the cabinet. And the heat eventually destroyed the fixture. If I were doing recessed puck lights nowadays, I'd be sure to use LED ones.

However, like Jim, I now use LED tape under kitchen uppers. Better light distribution, and little heat.


+ 1 on this. I had a customer that insisted on puck lights. She liked to store her butter in an upper cabinet. Forgot to turn the light off one night. She never stored her butter there again.:D

[Curt Harms]

Lee Valley has such animals. And today is a free shipping day for orders over $40.

That said, I prefer LED tape for this application because of better light distribution. There are tracks/covers available that essentially allow you to flush mount in the same manner as the puck lights you ask about.

I did similar to Jim except a little more fabrication. I just bought a 16' roll of LEDs, stuck 'em to a shellaced 1/4" oak strip, and did a bit of soldering. A 'wall wart' will provide adequate power (12 volt 2 amps) for 16' of LED tape. Quite low profile surface mount and very even light. I did 2 rows of tape but there are high output LED tapes now so 2 rows may not be required.

[Jim Becker]

Curt, I also put the LED tape on a separate piece of material to make installation easier and also make it removable should the cabinet need to be replaced, etc. The OP does request that the lighting be embedded in the cabinet and there's actually a flush mount track and cover system to allow for that. You run a groove down the cabinet bottom(s) that is the correct width and depth for the track, install the lighting and then snap on the covers. (surface mount is also available)

[Curt Harms]

Curt, I also put the LED tape on a separate piece of material to make installation easier and also make it removable should the cabinet need to be replaced, etc. The OP does request that the lighting be embedded in the cabinet and there's actually a flush mount track and cover system to allow for that. You run a groove down the cabinet bottom(s) that is the correct width and depth for the track, install the lighting and then snap on the covers. (surface mount is also available)

Ah, so really flush. I hadn't heard of that before.

[Bob Grier]

I replaced under cabinet lighting with LED tape lighting on a dimmer. I used self stick and have not had any problem with it in 2 years. I leave it on most of the time. Where I used floating shelves instead of upper cabinet, I recessed the LED strip so it would not shine in my eyes. I recessed it about a 1/4" and now it casts a shadow line about 2 inches down on the back splash wall. I could add a spacer behind the LED strip so it is flush with the underside of the shelf to get rid of the shadow. Where I have upper cabinets, the face of the upper cabinets project an inch below the bottom of the cabinet so surface mounted LED strip lighting is shielded without recessing.

If the counter top is shiny then you will want to use LED strip that comes with a mounting channel with diffuser lens so you do not see a string of light spots reflecting off the counter top. My counter top is not polished to mirror finish. It has leather type finish so does not reflect the dots of light. You can buy a small strip and use any 12v or 24v dc transformer, depending on your LED strip voltage, to test before buying a system.

[Jim Becker]

Ah, so really flush. I hadn't heard of that before.

Yea, other than, perhaps, a slight crown on the snap-in cover, they can sit "flush" with the bottom of the cabinet or whatever. And since they don't generate the heat that older Xenon/Halogen lamps did and have much more even light, it's win-win.

Check the track in the center of this Lee Valley photo for what I'm talking about:

http://www.leevalley.com/us/images/item/Hardware/Lighting/00U4231s1.jpg

[jack duren]

You can use puck lights but you'll need the newer version(heat). The puck lights are flush under the bar and inside but you'll need two layers to support and hide the wiring and keep them flush...

[mike waters]

Yea, other than, perhaps, a slight crown on the snap-in cover, they can sit "flush" with the bottom of the cabinet or whatever. And since they don't generate the heat that older Xenon/Halogen lamps did and have much more even light, it's win-win.

Check the track in the center of this Lee Valley photo for what I'm talking about:

http://www.leevalley.com/us/images/item/Hardware/Lighting/00U4231s1.jpg
Oh sweet!
so I would just use my plunge router/track and route maybe 1/2”?
do these screw into the dado channel?

I was wanting recessed puck lights that that would be if equal spacing on each side.
three bonsai trees are going to be on each floating shelf.
so I wanted to ‘spot light’ then

[Jim Becker]

I can't tell you the exact dimension of the slot you would create. Lee Valley could provide you with that information. They may be press fit with the proper size recess...not sure. Again, I'll have to refer you to the vendor. I've only actually used the surface mount version, but I can tell you that the stuff is high-quality. I use the Lee Valley LED tape strip components, too.

[Jamie Buxton]

I haven't used the extrusions which Lee Valley sells, but I have used ones from other vendors. On the flush-mount extrusion, there are small ridges on the outside of the extrusion. They look like they're intended for friction-fit into the slot in the wood. But the slot would have to be very very precise. It turns out that you can glue the extrusion in using good ol' Tightbond on the walls of the slot. The Tightbond doesn't bond to the extrusion. It does bond to the walls of the slot. The glue catches those small ridges mechanically, essentially making a friction fit on the extrusion even if the slot width is not perfect.

[Jim Becker]

That's a good point about the glue, Jamie. Once cured, it would present a good physical barrier into those ridges to resist the channel coming out.

[cody michael]

I used these.

https://www.banggood.com/50CM-SMD-5730-36-LED-Rigid-Strip-Tube-Bar-Light-Lamp-With-U-Aluminium-Shell-PC-Cover-DC12V-p-1088115.html?rmmds=search&cur_warehouse=CN

Other options,

https://www.banggood.com/search/led-strip-aluminium.html

With a little soldering and a dimmer they are an awesome setup, I just surface mounted them about an inch back from the front lip of the cupboard, you cannot see them and the lights look great. I bought a power supply off the same website. I think my whole kitchen with dimmer was under $50.