LED Kitchen unit under lights?
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Deep Thought

Original Poster:

40,169 posts

228 months

Sunday 8th March 2020
quotequote all
Anyone any recommendations for LED lights for the underside of kitchen wall units?

We've strip lights in there but thinking of an LED upgrade.

Theres lots of generic LED lights about but looking for recommendations from anyone whos done it.

Speed 3

5,281 posts

150 months

Sunday 8th March 2020
quotequote all
These worked well for me:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-ykt5bf1-l55-t5-led-...

Best to use a decent double-sided tape to mount them on their side rather than the clips they come with.

miniman

30,182 posts

293 months

Sunday 8th March 2020
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Who me ?

7,455 posts

243 months

Sunday 8th March 2020
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i fitted JML ones after LA upgrade to ours. Problem is that they eat batteries ,but good light output and they are remote operated , so if you've got a few it's one click and they're all on. Possibly have been better off with low voltage mains ones, but that would mean a bit of drilling and that would be a no no with the COW. Apart from that ,we had no choice in power arrangements as our LA wants all houses to the same standard . (IMHO-lowest). I had to fight to get the corner unit bottoms filled in.

rxe

6,700 posts

134 months

Monday 9th March 2020
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LIFX Z.

I’ll never get bored of the kitchen lighting up as I return home in the evening....

David_M

488 posts

81 months

Monday 9th March 2020
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Speed 3 said:
These worked well for me:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/lap-ykt5bf1-l55-t5-led-...

Best to use a decent double-sided tape to mount them on their side rather than the clips they come with.
I also used the LAP LED striplights and would definitely recommend them. I found the clips fine and they hold them securely, but they are very light so tape would probably do. They are instant on, no flicker, a lot of light for very low power consumption and come in multiple lengths so you can tailor them to the space available. I'd say that the only (possible) downside is that they are not a very "warm" light, but for kitchen that suits me. The other issue is that they don't sell longer link cables, but if you have bought a few you will end up with many link cables and can splice them if need be (you can also link them directly one to the other).

As an aside, other LAP led bulbs (bayonet, ES and GU10) are great value and since I started fitting them many years ago I cannot recall one failing.

HantsRat

2,410 posts

139 months

Monday 9th March 2020
quotequote all
Philips Hue strip lights here. Look great, no issues, works well with phone/alexa/other automation. Bit pricier but have been faultless and so easy to extent.

Deep Thought

Original Poster:

40,169 posts

228 months

Monday 9th March 2020
quotequote all
Thanks folks. All very useful.

We all ready have power to there so will be looking at mains powered ones.

Will have a look at them all, but some really good pointers there.

beer

C2Red

4,377 posts

284 months

Tuesday 10th March 2020
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Hue over here, use a couple of door sensors as well to power them on/off if just passing through the kitchen, with hue light switches for overriding if working there

juggsy

1,528 posts

161 months

Tuesday 10th March 2020
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Another one for Hue strip lights, I have them both under and over cupboard which allows me to create some funky lighting effects. Combined with a sensor, they are set to come on minimal brightness if you pop down in the middle of the night to make a drink or whatever. In the morning, I’ve set them for a half brightness ‘sunrise’ colour theme when you say ‘Alexa, morning’, so your corneas aren’t melted first thing. In the day, ambient blue over cupboard with white under cupboard task lighting. Works well

LordHaveMurci

12,338 posts

200 months

Tuesday 10th March 2020
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Think mine are Robus, available in various lengths & can switch between warm & cool white light.

Good light output, instant on & no flickering.

ecsrobin

18,679 posts

196 months

Tuesday 10th March 2020
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Those with the hue strip lights or any how have you wired them in? I don’t want cables everywhere but have a stash of hue lightstrips for my new place I’m about to move into and the kitchen is one of the places I’d like to install them.

juggsy

1,528 posts

161 months

Tuesday 10th March 2020
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ecsrobin said:
Those with the hue strip lights or any how have you wired them in? I don’t want cables everywhere but have a stash of hue lightstrips for my new place I’m about to move into and the kitchen is one of the places I’d like to install them.
I had some existing under cupboard lights so used the power from them. The mains cable comes out over the cupboard, so I wired in a socket and plugged the strip lights into that. On one cupboard, there was luckily a gap between cupboard and wall on the side to route the cable between under and over. For another, I bought a flat hue extension cable, drilled a hole top and bottom, fed the cable inside the cupboard, and taped using some spare white tape I had normally used for taping ducting. Worked perfectly!

miniman

30,182 posts

293 months

Tuesday 10th March 2020
quotequote all
juggsy said:
I had some existing under cupboard lights so used the power from them. The mains cable comes out over the cupboard, so I wired in a socket and plugged the strip lights into that. On one cupboard, there was luckily a gap between cupboard and wall on the side to route the cable between under and over. For another, I bought a flat hue extension cable, drilled a hole top and bottom, fed the cable inside the cupboard, and taped using some spare white tape I had normally used for taping ducting. Worked perfectly!
That's pretty much what I did for mine (not Hue, but same basic setup of a number of sockets hidden on the top of the cupboards. I'm about to do an extension and new kitchen so will be looking for something more elegant to be honest, surprised that Hue don't do a bigger PSU that can drive multiple lights.

dhutch

17,907 posts

228 months

Tuesday 10th March 2020
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Anything half decent that is 'warm white' if you want it to match the rest of the room.

Halmyre

12,654 posts

170 months

Tuesday 10th March 2020
quotequote all
LordHaveMurci said:
Think mine are Robus, available in various lengths & can switch between warm & cool white light.

Good light output, instant on & no flickering.
I have Robus as well, can't fault them.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/robus-rledstr8x-01-led-...

Freed forever from the tyranny of flickering fluorescent tubes.

dhutch

17,907 posts

228 months

Tuesday 10th March 2020
quotequote all
Halmyre said:
Freed forever from the tyranny of flickering fluorescent tubes.
Hate to break it to you, but a lot of LEDs flicker too!

mikal83

5,340 posts

283 months

Tuesday 10th March 2020
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We bought a load of led strips from fleabay, a 12v box and hard wired to a wall switch to all the undersides of the wall units. Warm white was too dark, so got cool white.

Somebody

1,762 posts

114 months

Tuesday 10th March 2020
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I had under cabinets lights which I replaced with waterproof LED strips that had a rubber convex profile stuck at the back edge of cabinets against the wall. Wired in the with transformer/drivers and subsequently added remote controllers.

This is my video uploaded by the controller manufacturer: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YdV-_23tYYE

I have since integrated the set up with Smartthings and Alexa so they turn off with no motion etc.

smn159

16,088 posts

248 months

Tuesday 10th March 2020
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miniman said:
+1. I used his stuff when we did our kitchen 5 years ago. LED lights on a roll and diffusers which you cut to size.

You do need to be able to work a soldering iron though

Very pleased with it