DIY under cabinet lights

[yellowstang]

I've gone through 2 sets of battery operated under cabinet lights, and they just suck, too short of a battery life to be useful. Went on a spending spree on Amazon the other day, and ran across these.
I'm pleasantly surprised out how good they work! Very slim, so you do not see them when you walk into the kitchen, and installation is a fricken breeze. I tested them first and just stuck them on to the left over double sided tape from the battery models, plugged em in and was like, holy shit, they work!
Installing the brackets for them is easy, 1 screw each, 2 brackets per light. They snap in. I think it took 10 minutes to install them, and that included walking to the garage to get a screw driver, then putting it back.

I still need to finish the wire running to the power outlet, waiting fro Lyn to get back and see where she wants it and the on/off switch placed. 1 minute job, so that wire is just hanging for now.

This is 3 lights under 3 cabinets. I could have used a kit with 5, almost bought the 6 pack one, but thought this would work well enough, and it does. Should have done this sooner!

Regular kitchen lights on:



The light installed under the cabinet:


Lights on with kitchen lights on:

[Gasser64]

Wanna do this too but the only thing I don't like is a wire going down to the outlet. I like the clean look of just having them rigged up to a light switch. Also, I might go with those long, stick on strips for even lighting coverage.

[yellowstang]

I thought about that too, with the switch being in a funny place. Luckily in my setup, it will be in the corner next to the fridge, behind the coffee pot, easy to reach, but out of site.
Another option, they have a similar kit with a remote control. You can easily drill little holes in the cabinets to run the cords thru, and then plug into the outlet for the microwave (if you have an over oven type). Then, no wires anywhere except in between each light, which is not seen.
Just leave the switch in the cabinet on, and use the remote. Some had timers and were dimmable too.

[BMCSean]

I hardly ever even turn on our under cabinet lights. Maybe twice in the last year.

[CJ]

I've done many different kinds of installs in the last few years. I prefer to use LED stripe lights instead of these fixture types, as they are about 5x cheaper, and you can spread the light coverage out better. You will need to do some soldering, but it's very simple stuff. I use a wireless wall switch to dim/turn on off, looks great. I've also used remotes, dimmers, and other types. All of it is dirt cheap.