I would suggest looking at LED. There is a continuation of the LED UCL DIY thread below.

Here is a link that might be useful: LED UCL DIY continuation

We just had LED strips installed in our kitchen in lieu of halogen and Zenon because of the heat. We used the warm white lights. We are very happy with them with one exception. If they are close to another reflective surface, they cast stripes of light. We have some that are undercounter lights over a dark gray quartzite countertop that work fine. There is a slight reflection of a bar but I prefer that over the spotlight effect of the halogen puck lights. But some are under/over stainless steel shelves and the stripes of light from the row of bulbs reflecting on the stainless steel surface creates an optical illustion that hurts my eyes. If I had known that would happen, I wouldn't have put them there. So I suggest you get them to rig up a sample with the surface and see if it is a problem for you.

i will have a shiny dark granite countertop installed and am concerned about the reflections. decided to go with LED lights from enviromentallights.com since they sell a diffuser which should blur the reflections if needed. also sell angled brackets that can point them towards the backsplash

We used halogen strip lights in our kitchen a few years ago and we love the warm glow. The heat is not too bad, but it is enough so that I can soften butter by placing it in the cabinet above the lights.

Reflection is an issue with any lights above dark shiny granite. We minimized this by using the angled brackets suggested above by mcfreiz. We mounted the light strip above the bracket along the front edge of the cabinets and aimed the lights toward the backsplash. It doesn't eliminate all reflection, but it definitely helps so the lights are not "in your face". I never notice a reflection day-to-day unless I am intentionally looking for it.

We won't replace our halogen light strips in the kitchen, but we are considering some LEDs strips for our upcoming bathroom remodel. I will check out the thread suggested by davidtay.

I also used LED lights from Environmentallights.com (Typo in the URL from mcfreiz)and am very happy with them. I used the dimmable light bars and bought various lengths to fit my cabs. The electrician that did the install was amazed that the total wattage for the entire kitchen was around 50 watts. I have the driver hooked to a dimmer and can control the brightness and no heat.

Diane

Here is a link that might be useful: Dimmable LED under cab light bars

If you go with LED under-counter lights do you do the strip or box? We are nearly ready to do under-counter and contractor and electrician want XENON because they are easy to install. They say we are not wired for the strips and that the XENON is not that hot but I hear differently from different people. I want a white light that can be dimmed under-counter for the leathered marble with white streaks counter-top.

You need to use direct wire LED lighting solutions like the Philips eW Profile or Maxlite.