Lets talk Kitchen task lighting

wittyschaffy

My DH and I are remodeling our kitchen finally which we've had to put off twice due to finances.  Our cabinets have been purchased for 2 years, we've had the tile for ages and we're ready to rock and roll.  

We need to purchase task lighting for under the cabinets and I'm having a heck of a time making a decision.  All of the options have big pros and big cons and I can't make up my mind.  

LED - run pretty cool, are efficient and cheap to run, for what we need the light output is adequate, but are expensive up front and if they fail, the whole unit has to be replaced (see expensive part!).

Halogen/Xenon - These throw off some great light, they can be dimmed if we want them to, they're inexpensive, but they throw off some serious heat.  We had a set we put in on our crap cabinets temporarily while we limped along with our ghetto kitchen and they  melted a nylon spoon that was in a utensil crock on the counter and got too close.  Yikes.

Fluorescent - they're inexpensive, they are efficient, if something fails you can typically get replacement parts.  The downside, the light sucks.   

So - what do you have and do you like/love/hate it? 

big_noise

We did our kitchen in 2008 so I didn't really consider LED. WE have xenon and they're great. We got them from JH Larson, a plumbing and electrical supply place. I'd def. look someplace other than the big box stores for that. You'll probably find something more heavy duty that is great long-term. We absolutely love our undercabs and use them almost more than the overhead lights!

kcharris21

We had just went through the same thing, questioning lighting to use as we remodeled our kitchen. Loved what we picked out.

http://www.ikea.com/us/en/catalog/products/00119424/

LED lighting from Ikea, inexpensive and bright for what they are. Small pucks that you can silicone or just use the double sided foam tape. We ran the wires to an outlet so we have then hooked to a switch, so easy to install. One ever burns our or gets broken it unplugs from the box and can be replaced.

 

Good luck with the remodel!!

jennyk213

We have xenon lighting that we got from Creative Lighting in St Paul. The only time I notice them being warm is when I feel around for the on/off switch and I wouldn't even say they're that warm - maybe the temp of bath water. They're definitely not warm enough to melt anything. I usually have them on for a few hours at most but there are times we've had them on for several hours when cooking/serving food for holidays and they didn't get hot.