undercabinet lighting for open shelving?

11 years ago

We are going to have only open shelving for upper cabinets. This is an attempt to keep the kitchen feeling more open (small kitchen). We figure if we don't like it we can always add upper cabinets later!

SO here is my question: I still want undercabinet lighting, but without real cabinets, I don't know how to hide the hardware! I know you could put it in the wall, but that would mean tearing the walls all apart and drilling through all the studs (and also mean that hubby would kill me!). Does anybody have any ideas? I have beem looking at some LED options that are very small that might work, but LED is usually a very harsh & cold light...

Featured Answer

mamadadapaige

11 years ago

Htracey,
i just completed my kitchen and have an open shelf between two wall cabinets. I used the Hafele undercabinet lighting and it is warm (and wonderful!). I love it. I didn't want the little dots reflecting on my countertops so I opted for lighting that comes inside an aluminum housing with a frosted cover. It is the Bali surface mounted lighting. the cabinet company routed out a channel for me in the shelving so that it is flush... these units need their driver. six units can plug into one driver and then the driver plugs into a standard 110 outlet (hidden in an upper part of the wall cabinet).

Comments (6)

herbflavor
11 years ago
something new I was looking at recently......stickbulb.com
by RUX . They say they can be attached to underside of shelves. Maybe worth a look....[I like new stuff]
jakuvall
11 years ago
Hafele offers a warm LED (3200k)- so do many other brands now.
Hafele also has lights that can be set in a channel routed into the bottom of your shelf. I use the Loox 2015 the most which can be recessed. Also a lot of options for decent looking exposed lights-
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PRO
Tom Carter
11 years ago
hi,
I just completed LED strip lighting that would work in your shelves. The gear is from superbrightleds. It is very DIY - solding wires onto LED light strips, routing groves into the underside of cabinets etc. but the results are great. The lighting is warm, bright and dimmable. I used a 12 V system and the 1/8 deap aluminum inset track with frosted covers.
You would be able to do with with open shelving and the lights would be virtually invisible.
caspian
htracey
Original Author
11 years ago
Caspian, do you have any pics of the finnished product? I was looking at doing this very thing. I'm glad to hear you were happy with the results!
PRO
Tom Carter
11 years ago
not yet...I'll have some shortly though...
check out these pics at teh super bright led website...they give the general idea.
I routed the underside of 3/8 finish grade plywood - 1/8 deep on the underside, a hole through for the wires and end caps and then routed the top side for the wires. All you can see of the lighting is the flush light strip, no wires and the 3/8 plywood creates a nice flush clean underside for the cabinets. I have a 1' strip valance under the cabinets to hide the edge of the 3/8 plywood.
Caspian

Here is a link that might be useful: pics for superbright led flush led lights