We installed the Lowes Xenon about 2 months ago and we LOVE them. They are the strips and the light swivels a bit so you can direct it. They have 2 settings - high and low. They are excellent and what a good price! Our electrician was very impressed with them. He hardwired them in so that they can turn off on one switch. Hope I'm making sense on this - not good at explaining.

We put one under each cabinet - I'll post photos of our finished kitchen on the weekend (first time!). We put in 18" Xenons under the 24" cabinets; and I think 10" ones under the 12" cabinets. I would go with undercabinet lights all the way around if you don't have recessed. You will like them.

I think the strips give a more even light instead of the pucks.

Good luck with your lighting!
Maria

I don't know anything about the xenon lighting specifically at Lowe's, but I wanted to give you a few tips about xenon undercabinet lighting. I do not like pucks. They leave circles of light on your countertop, while strips shed more even light. Also, I would get strips that are hardwired, not plug-in, so that you don't have unsightly cords and plugs, and since your electrician will be doing the electrical work anyway. Also, the strips should be installed toward the front of your upper cabinets, not toward the rear. If you install the strips toward the rear, you will mostly be shedding light on your backsplash, rather than on your countertop. Installation toward the front will light your countertop. I would also have the switch for the xenons be a dimmer switch. The dimmer costs a bit more than a regular switch, about $45, but it is nice to have the flexibility to dim or brighten the light depending on whether you want task lighting or mood lighting. Note that low-voltage xenons require dimmers specifically for low-voltage lighting. They are easily available at Home Depot, Lowe's, etc.

My xenon strips do not get hot at all. I believe that is because I chose a style that is open, so the bulbs are open to the air, rather than enclosed with a plastic or glass cover. However, the less expensive xenon strips may all come with a cover, I don't know.

HTH.

The Xenon strips we purchased from Lowes do not need to have a dimmer added as they each have a button that gives a "high" and a "low" setting. Ours do have a cover and get a bit warm but nothing at all serious. We installed our lights in the middle - it works well. I agree, don't go with mounting them on the back. They are a sleek looking light.

You will be happy with these from Lowes (red/white/yellow on the box).
Maria

Me too! I got the Portfolio xenon strips from Lowes on super sale last year. They don't need a dimmer, you can dim each one separately with its toggle (I suspect mine are the exact same as Maria's). I think mine are the 18" strips, one per cabinet (I only have three uppers, each in a different spot). Great warm clear light, and they do get a little warm but honestly not too bad; they're not melting the baking chocolate in the cabinet above.

Mine are all hardwired in to the same switch(es).

oh yes! ~~> Make sure to tell the electrician if you want them controlled by more than one switch -- at two different doors to the room, for instance.

I wish I'd known about the mounting options AKChicago mentions prior to my own install, since mine are on the back and I do get more direct light on the backsplash than I'd like, giving my DIY tile job something of an inadvertent Vincent Price look... ;-)

Here's a shot of mine newly mounted along back of cab. They're so skinny they're virtually invisible:

I ordered Kichler from a lighting store. They are 120v so they can be dimmed with any dimmer. They also have a glass cover. They haven't been installed yet, so I can't comment on how they look.

I'm curious about the Lowes lights. It's too late now, but because of my curiosity I'll look at them.

I'm a guy... I'll take any excuse to go to a hardware store!

~Jay

Thanks Akchicago, That's great comprehensive info.

I installed CSN lighting Xenon strips. The light is lovely from them. They do get a tad warm when on high for a long time, but nothing ridiculous. I want to add though that even with a hi/lo toggle I used a dimmer and that way you are able to dim to a considerably lower level than the toggle does. Also, you don't have to go to each light individually to dim them. I second the suggestion to put a switch at more than one location: I have switches controlling the undercabs and the main lights at both the main entry to the kitchen and the exit door to the dining room so I can dim/control the lights as I got to the dinner table to join guests.

Best of luck!

We just bought our lights from Lowes yesterday! They are going in this week - Xenon strips that will be hardwired with a dimmer.

sooo...if I might hijack for a second...do I need a strip under EVERY cabinet? What about the corner? THANKS!

We are planning on the Xenon lights from Lowes too, but our concern is the placement.

We may override the advice and strong recommendation of the people from both Lowes and a specialty lighting store - both of whom said that it does not look good at all to have any wires showing under the counter. They both said it would look really horrible and absolutely to not do it.

The speciality lighting store had a fix - it was a box that you install at the back, while the light goes at the front, but of course it's more expensive, negating the primary benefit of Xenon.

I am thinking, "who cares" to wires showing. You don't see under there anyway, and you can use attachments made to hold up the wires (or even completely encase them in a strip). So we are leaning toward mounting them in the middle front area and leaving the wires exposed - and hardwiring the whole thing.

I looked under the cabinet of my mom's and it's bare wire, but you can't see it unless you duck your head down low under there. It didn't bother me and certaintly wasn't horrendous like the sales people say it will be.

" both of whom said that it does not look good at all to have any wires showing under the counter." I'm assuming you mean under the upper cabinets.....

Our wire comes our directly under the upper cabinet and the lights are placed in the middle of the uppers, so there is a 6" wire under the cabinet which you don't see - particularly with a light rail.

Iceqween13, yep, I am referring to under the upper cabinets.

And that's my thoughts - with lightrail, you shouldn't see any wires anyway.

The Xenon lights are a little thicker (I think it's around an inch and an eigth). My cabinet people have assured me the light rail will cover it, hopefully light rail that is an inch and a 1/4 or 1/2 will look ok.

I used the Utilitech Xenon strip lights from Lowe's and we love them. They have two settings, low/high and a toggle to rock them back and forth. The electrician hard wired them and they were mounted in the middle under the cabinets. We used 12" and 17" strips depending on the size of the cabinets. They get a little warm but we usually leave them on low so it's not an issue.

Iceqween, which lights do you have?

Hi faleash, Ours are the Utilitech Xenon strips from Lowe's too. We had them hardwired in like Marcy96 and in the middle (not front) of cabs. We also used 12" and 17". Absolutely love them.

How many of you have hardwired these strips to dimmers? How is the result? Do you keep the lights toggled on high or low when using the dimmer? I'm interested in these, but want a light we can dim down very low when not needed for task lighting.

For those of you who have them hardwired and NOT on a dimmer, do I have to pick between the high or low setting as a permanent choice? Or will the high/low toggle on the light itself still work while the light switch in the wall just powers it?

We don't have ours on a dimmer. Some I switch on high (around the cooktop); others I have toggled to low.
Hope this helps.

Low is a nice light. If we want it really dim, then we turn them off and dim the recessed cans or only turn the peninsula lights on.....

We have ours hardwired and they are dimmable using the toggle switch on each independent light. I thought this would annoy me, but it doesn't. I usually have them on the brightest setting. I was a bit annoyed that I forgot to tell the electrician to mount them to the front end of the upper cabinet, but now I'm glad he didn't because when we do ever get a backsplash I know it will look great. AND the lights from Lowes have a little bar that you can actually rotate the light towards the front of the counter or towards the back, so it works out great!

They don't get nearly as warm as I thought they would, which is great, too!