Question on Kitchen cabinet lighting

newcomeramy

Hello,

Been in the park for 6 months now, it really IS time we sorted out the under cabinet lighting in our kitchen. We have 3 white square boxes hanging down that makes the place look unfinished. There is no skirt coming down from the bottom of the wall units to conceal any light bulbs ... Can anyone advise what they did and what it looks like?

Ta

Amy

frugal

We went for the straightforward approach - got onto nolan kitchens and bought a length of pelmet, they can supply pelmet that will match the rest of the units.
Bought two small strip lights and two switches from a hardware store and wired 'em up. Takes about an hour to do the wiring etc. The pelmet hides the light fixtures and actually improves the look of the units significantly.

Eoin

Cool, we're looking to do the same thing - if you wire up to the white boxes, does that mean that they come on when you turn on the overhead lighting?

EMPM

the wires in the white boxes are not live. If you check behind your main light switch in the kitchen there should be a couple of wires there. These need to be connected to the light switch to give power to the wires under the cabinets

frugal

Argh didn't realize that was possible, :rolleyes: we put in individual switches under the cabinets and wired the strip lights into them. Adding them into the main light switch would be much neater.

sso

agghhh - that sounds complicated. Is it a major job? How would I go about it?

sso

Oh that sounds really complicated. But it means they all come on together right?

Do you think we would manage ourselves - or do we need an electrician. We managed the junction boxes alright.

Thanks
SSO

Welsh Wizard

I thought the wire was live when I done mine, not sure though...

I have mine on a perminate live and use the switch on the side of the strip light..
Find this being the better option by far..

High Tide

It might seem handier to connect the switch on the strip light to your main lights so they all come on together, but bear in mind a little known or observed fact (and apparently true though don't hold me to it!) - it is actually cheaper to leave on a flourescent light for 8 hours, than to turn it on and off twice - apparently this is because of the electricity required to 'start up' the light... might help in your decision on how to wire them up. I did mine separately and it means you can just have the strip lights on on their own if you want.

2011

It might seem handier to connect the switch on the strip light to your main lights so they all come on together, but bear in mind a little known or observed fact (and apparently true though don't hold me to it!) - it is actually cheaper to leave on a flourescent light for 8 hours, than to turn it on and off twice

This is simply not true!

May I suggest that if you are looking for free advice for this type of work (although some of the advice above is good) to post your questions on the electrical forum.

High Tide

I stand corrected - must be another one of those Ol' Wives tales...

RosieJoe

Talk about resurrecting a dead post! Previously posted to in August 06 :eek: