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under cabinet lighting plan - any cheaper alternative to unilume?

cottonpenny
11 years ago

My cabinets only have 0.75 inches recess on the bottom so I need very low profile. Even eW Powercore is 0.88 inches but Unilume is 0.74 inches.

Attached are photos of kitchen and arrows indicate where wires come out of wall for UCLs. This is an interior north facing kitchen so lighting is very important. As you can see, I have 5 different sections and no continuous long runs or corners.

For Unilume, I would have to buy (3) 13" segments, (4) 19" segments, (5) splice boxes, and (2) jump connectors, right?? That all adds up to $1380...!!!!

I'm sure that would be gorgeous and will spend that if I need to, but that's a lot of $$$. Any cheaper options? What if I give up dimming?

Comments (8)

  • kbard
    11 years ago

    Hmm, without knowing what a UCL wire is ( and neither does my electrical engineer husband) a little difficult to answer this but... Assuming it stands for under cabinet lighting? We just installed lighting for $70 for thin (3/8 inch width) rope LED from home depot. Yes there is an unsightly plug where it plus into a regular outlet, but then we drilled thru the floor of the cabinet up into the cabinet and store the power box there. Then the rope lighting comes down back out of that same hole and is stuck to the underside of cabinet. It looks like you would have to do some drilling to do this, but at maximum it would cost $70x5. You would just have to decide if you want wires taking up space in your cabinets.

  • kbard
    11 years ago

    {{!gwi}}

    {{!gwi}}

    {{!gwi}}

  • cottonpenny
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Well, the title of the thread says"under cabinet lighting plan" so I thought the abbreviation was fairly obvious....especially since it's used in about every other thread on this forum.

    I don't want transformers in my cabinets. I would need 5 - one in every cabinet. That would suck.

    Does anyone know if I would see the 0.88 inch eW powercore if I mounted them in my 0.75 inch recess?

  • attofarad
    11 years ago

    Looks like you have new painted cabinets? You might consider increasing the recess by adding a moulding to the bottom edge of the uppers, painted to match the cabinets. It can be quite a nice look, and will give you a bit more space. It WILL decrease the counter to upper cabinet dimension by the same amount.

    Here is a link that might be useful: [just one example[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/heights-kitchen-remodel-traditional-kitchen-houston-phvw-vp~116570)

  • David
    11 years ago

    With low voltage,you may not need 5 power supplies, one in each cabinet. However, you may need to run another set of wiring, which may not be appealing.

    With direct wire, you could install something as a stop gap measure and wait until either prices drop or suitable alternatives appear.

    A possible solution would be LED panel lighting. There are some that are 0.5" thick.

  • cottonpenny
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Davidtay - what do you think about how visible the 0.88 inch eW powercore would be if mounted a few inches back from the edge of the cabinet?

  • David
    11 years ago

    If you're standing at the counter, it wouldn't be all that obvious.

    When seated at the island, or walking around you would see the bars.

    Imo, after some time, the protrusion may not matter. If it still does, there are a number of possible solutions.

  • cottonpenny
    Original Author
    11 years ago

    Maybe I'll just get the Pegasus Xenon ones at 15/16" (0.93 inches), ~$275. Then I'll replace with LED in a few years, hopefully they'll be cheaper then.