Kitchen Under Cabinet Lighting

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I have a kitchen remodel being done here starting in July. And when I say remodel, I’m talking complete gut job, down to the studs and removing drywall and replacing insulation and running electrical wiring for new and additional outlet placement, and new switch placement

I have 75% of my home converted over to Lutron Caseta lighting. So all overhead lighting will be controlled by Lutron Caseta dimmers for the 4” can LED lighting being installed in the ceiling.

What I’m looking for is a under cabinet lighting solution that works with Lutron (no buzzing or flickering of lighting), is dimmable, mount is clean with no wires or transformers showing, has lights that are easily replaced should a section fail for some reason.

Do you install an outlet inside a cabinet up high and mount the transformer in the cabinet plugged into a Lutron dimmer? I’m trying to envision how this will all get put together since I’ll be doing the electrical work myself. Anyone have any pictures of their install and how it’s wired and controlled?

I’ve been leaning towards the Hue light strips, particularly for colored lighting under the base cabinet because I want to setup lighting that comes on if the gas range / stove is left on for more then a period of time. I may also want lighting inside specific cabinets that are deeper as well so I’d like to understand how people have wired up their lighting for inside their cabinets.

What are some kitchen automation solutions you would change if you could do it over again? Looking for ideas and suggestions.

Thank you!

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I didn't do the wiring myself (for the most part), but had my electrician pull a single circuit (lighting, 15 Amps) such that each group of upper cabinets had a pigtail coming out of the wall right below the back of each upper cabinet grouping -- in my case, this meant 3 pigtails, one for each location I wanted to run lights. The hot on these pigtails are controlled via a Zooz Zen27 Dimmer -- but a Lutron Dimmer would work fine as well.

I linked the light bars I used in this thread/post: Under cabinet strip lighting

My light bars have 3 colors and are easily hardwired to the pig-tails.

The light bars are not too thick, and fit well in the area under the cabinet, behind the trim. Generally they are invisible unless one bends down (or is really short), or seated at a table (for example).

I use them in my Kitchen and "Butler's Pantry" (Bar really).

I went with them over LED Strips, as they are direct AC wired, much easier to install on grouped cabinets, and since I was remodelling, it was much easier to add one just one switch box, rather than a plug in every cabinet grouping for a transformer, or to add a bunch of in-wall Low-Voltage circuits to distribute DC from a central transformer. They are also "dumb" devices, and the Dimmer provides all the smarts -- when I (eventually) move, I'll likely just swap the dimmer with a dumb dimmer or switch - no muss, no fuss.

In my basement, I do have LED strip lights, as I only have a single set up upper cabinets, and it was easy to conceal the monster transformer the electrician used in one of the base cabinets, and run Low voltage circuits.

All my under cabinet lighting is "white", not color controlled though.

Changes? I would definitely do in-cabinet lighting in my Pantry Cabinets -- maybe my downstairs basement bar cabinets too -- to backlight all those fancy bottles of boos I never get around to drinking. :slight_smile: I'd also rethink the location of some light switches, and perhaps run a couple of ethernet lines into some of the upper cabinets (for PoE so I could possibly place a hub or other device somewhere in the kitchen) and along some of the counter areas. If I had thought about it, an extra outlet or two with USB ports would have been smart as well.

On a side note, I do have some LED light strips, and I've had good luck with the Gledopto line of controllers.

Meh, I've rambled on enough. Good luck with your project.

S.

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Thanks for your reply. I’ll check out your thread.

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Having just done a remodel last year (Recommendations for kitchen remodeling (2020)), my one additional suggestion would be to also put outlets above your cabinets. That way you can add lighting above your cabinets at any point in the future. We initially didn't plan for this, but decided to do so just after the cabinets went up.

(but my mistake was I let the electrician run low-voltage down to under my sink, where I put the controllers. I wish someone had told me to put outlets up there.)

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Good tip! We ran our cabinets all the way to the ceiling, but we have an old house with 8' ceilings...if I had 9 or 10' ceilings above cabinet power would be really useful! (hubs, lights, etc).

S.

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Yes I was reading through your thread last night before I posted mine. Unfortunateky my ceiling are only 8 feet so my cabinets will go all the way to the ceiling with a piece of trim between the cabinet and the ceiling.

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Darn, then you can't do this: Red Alert

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Haha I could do it with the under cabinet and base cabinet lights!

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