Learn to set up beneath cupboard lighting within the kitchen utilizing LED gentle strips and get the attractive, high-end look you’ve been dreaming of!
We’ve been laborious at work within the kitchen putting in some lovely beneath cupboard lighting! Discovering the correct gentle setup was extra sophisticated than we anticipated, so we wrote a complete submit concerning the essential issues to think about when selecting provides. (I like to recommend studying that one first.)
As soon as we lastly had all the items we wanted, it was time for set up! Since Donnie was the first beneath cupboard lighting installer, I’m going to let him stroll you thru the method.
By far the toughest a part of putting in beneath cupboard lighting within the kitchen utilizing LED gentle strips is shopping for the provides. The precise set up is pretty simple, however the laborious factor is that almost all kitchen setups and layouts are completely different. My set up is not going to match your set up completely, however hopefully this information will assist provide the confidence to sort out this mission in your individual kitchen.
7 Steps to Putting in Underneath Cupboard Kitchen Lighting with LED Mild Strips
This submit incorporates affiliate hyperlinks. For extra info, see my disclosures right here.
You should use the next hyperlinks to skip to every step of the tutorial:
Provides
We bought our provides from Flex Fireplace LEDs. I had just a few questions on compatibility between gentle strips, connectors, and mounting channels and so they helped me discover the correct product with their reside chat characteristic. Listed below are the provides we ended up utilizing:
- Accent Sequence LED Strip Mild (3000K colour temperature, 24 volt enter, 16 foot size)
- 2x LED Plug-in Energy Provide Adapter (Added on the coaxial connector with screw terminal, 24 volt system; Word: We selected 24 watt measurement primarily based on the size of our setup. This text can assist you identify what number of watts are wanted in your particular mission.)
- Single Coloration Solderless Grip Connectors
Word: We bought C1 connectors with naked wire to attach the sunshine strips to the ability provide. In our state of affairs, we had two retailers with two separate energy provides, so we wanted two connectors with naked wire. It’s higher to get those with 36” of wire as a result of the size offers you extra flexibility, and so they can all the time be minimize down.
The opposite connectors you want rely in your state of affairs. We’ve got wood sections that divide the underside of our cupboards from each other, so I wanted to bridge this hole with wire. The the pre-made jumper connectors with wire in between are 6” lengthy which is a bit longer than I wanted. As an alternative, I made jumper connectors out of C1 connectors with no wire and the additional wire from unused connectors and additional wire.
Typically it’s laborious to check precisely what connectors you will have. I believed I had a good suggestion in my thoughts, however as soon as the mission began I made some changes. Thankfully, connectors are very low cost, so it is smart to by a range and greater than you want. - Gemini Mounting Channel Equipment (mounting channel and frosted cowl with accent package; Word: These mounting channels work effectively with the particular LED strips and connectors we selected. The frosted cowl doesn’t change the colour temperature of the lights, nevertheless it offers them a subtle look.)
- Drill
- Scissors
- Wire cutter and stripper
- Legrand wire hiders
- Scotch double sided mounting strips
Step 1: Put together Your Space and Perceive Your Structure
I knew going into this mission that I’d have two “sections” of LED lighting. The higher cupboard on the correct aspect has a change managed outlet that was put in at our request by the builders.
The nook cupboard on the left aspect of the kitchen additionally has an outlet managed by the identical change by the sink.
Abby created this mockup to point out the place the retailers are situated inside our kitchen cupboards.
When you don’t have retailers in your cupboards already, it’s possible you’ll want to rent an electrician to put in them earlier than continuing with the remainder of this mission.
In our home, the oven and microwave separates the 2 sections of cupboards. I made a decision to not attempt to bridge this hole however as an alternative have two separate strains of LED lights. The necessity for a second transformer does add to the associated fee, nevertheless it’s minimal.
To start the mission, I unloaded every thing from the 2 cupboards with the retailers.
As soon as every thing was out, I may higher envision the place the transformer would plug in, the place the wires would run, and what holes I would wish to drill.
Step 2: Perceive How All the LED Parts Join Collectively
I’ve to confess that when ordering all of the provides for this mission, I used to be nonetheless a bit confused about how every thing suits collectively.
As soon as all of the objects arrived I laid them out on the counter to visually perceive how all of them work collectively.
The ability provide plugs into the outlet. On the finish of the ability provide twine is a coaxial plug-in connector. This plugs into the separate connector with a coaxial connector on one finish, and a screw terminal on the opposite finish.
The screw terminals settle for the 2 naked wires after which are tightened right down to type connection.
The connector has naked wires on one finish after which a clamp fashion connector on the opposite finish that’s clamped down onto the LED gentle strip.
Check out the image under to raised perceive the way it suits collectively.
That’s actually all there may be to it by way of connecting the varied elements collectively. After all, there are different connectors to attach a number of items of LED gentle strips collectively or to bridge a niche, however these are very straightforward to know.
Step 3: Drill Vital Holes
This step will likely be completely different for every particular person. I did my finest to attenuate the variety of holes I drilled into my cupboards.
I used to be capable of thread the ability provide twine right down to the underside shelf by the small gaps on the aspect of our adjustable top cabinets. No drilling mandatory.
I did, nonetheless, must drill a gap within the again nook of the underside shelf of the cupboard.
I made the opening simply massive sufficient to go the bare-wire-end of one among my connectors by the opening.
We simply have one cupboard part to the correct of our range and microwave, however on the left aspect now we have a number of cupboard sections. I made a decision to drill a gap by the cupboard helps to bridge these gaps. This allowed me to raised hid the connector wires.
Step 4: Reduce Mounting Channels to Size
The aluminum mounting channels are available longer lengths however will be minimize right down to measurement.
I made a decision to depart about an inch of free area on both aspect of the channels in every cupboard part. This made it simpler to put in the connectors and wires.
I used an outdated blade on my miter noticed to chop the channels and frosted covers right down to measurement. Another choice can be to make use of a metallic hacksaw. Both would work simply fantastic and received’t take a lot time or effort.
When figuring out the size of every piece of your mounting channel, it’s essential to know the precise location on the underside of your cupboard.
For job lighting, I believe it’s good to have the lights nearer to the entrance of the cupboards versus pushed in direction of the again and nearer to your backsplash.
I initially made the error of simply butting up the mounting channels and lights to the very entrance of the cupboard. I bumped into a difficulty of the entrance lip of the cupboard casting an unpleasant shadow on the entrance fringe of our countertop. By transferring the channels again by simply an inch, the lip not brought on the shadow.
That is the place our closing lights ended up being positioned as soon as we put all the mandatory items collectively.
Step 5: Reduce and Join LED Mild Strips to Set up Underneath Cupboard Lighting
Now that all the preliminary work is finished, it’s time to start out chopping and connecting the LED gentle strips. Every state of affairs will likely be just a little completely different, however the fundamental constructing blocks are all the identical.
Listed below are some issues to think about…
The LED gentle strips will be minimize (on the designated markings) with a pair of sharp scissors. It’s essential to chop proper on the marking to make sure connection.
Don’t minimize the LED gentle strips to fill all the mounting channel. Some room is required on every finish to accommodate the connector clips on the within of the channels.
Discover how within the image above the sunshine strip and each connectors match within the mounting channel, with the wires operating by the top caps. Be sure to take this under consideration when chopping your LED gentle strips.
The connectors are hooked up to the sunshine strip by sliding the strip into the connector after which clamping down with pliers till it clicks into place.
The LED gentle strips have optimistic (+) and destructive (-) markings on either side of the strip. Be sure to are constant all through your mission. For instance when you have the purple wire related to the optimistic aspect of the strip, be sure to follow that for all gentle strips related to that energy provide.
Relying on which aspect of the mission your begin with (proper to left versus left to proper), it’s possible you’ll find yourself with a state of affairs the place you join a black wire to the optimistic aspect of the sunshine strip. That is mandatory in some circumstances and completely fantastic. Simply be sure to proceed with that for all different sections of sunshine strip related to that energy provide.
As soon as every thing on that specific part of sunshine is assembled and clamped, slide the sunshine strip and connectors into the mounting channel.
One of many tougher issues with this specific setup is that the connectors is not going to match into the mounting channel till they’re absolutely clamped onto the sunshine strip.
As soon as the connectors and light-weight strip are contained in the mounting channel with finish caps in place, take away the backing from the lights and stick them to the mounting channel.
Check Your Part of Lighting
After you assemble your first part of lighting, I like to recommend testing it out. To do that, join naked wires to the coaxial connector by loosening the screw, inserting the wires, after which tightening them down. A wire stripper could also be wanted to reveal the naked wire.
Once more, please bear in mind to be constant along with your (+) and (-) wires. In our state of affairs, we had two separate energy provides with two separate sections of LED lighting. In a single part the purple wire was optimistic. Within the different part the black wire was optimistic out of necessity. That is fantastic so long as you’re constant.
As soon as the wires are securely in place, plug the connector into the adapter and switch in your change. The primary part of lights must be illuminated.
When you’ve verified that every thing is working correctly, snap on the frosted mounting channel cowl for extra of a subtle look.
I ought to point out right here that it’s useful to be sure to have sufficient additional slack in your wires when connecting a number of sections collectively. You’ll be able to all the time minimize wires down, nevertheless it’s a ache to disassemble (though it’s very potential) a bit of lighting simply so as to add an extended wire or connector.
Additionally notice that I like to recommend unplugging the adaptor when working with these lights, however this all very low voltage (24 volts in our case) lighting, which may be very good from a security standpoint.
Subsequent it’s time to string the wire from one part of lighting by the pre-drilled holes to the subsequent part. Once more, this all depends upon your particular state of affairs.
It’s rinse and repeat for all the opposite sections. The assorted connectors are all combine and match, and even the connectors with out naked wires on each ends will be disassembled to reveal naked wires. The design of those connectors make this mission very adaptable and enjoyable.
Step 6: Connect LED Strip Mild Mounting Channels to Cupboards to Set up Underneath Cupboard Lighting
The aluminum channels embrace some mounting clips. I didn’t just like the included {hardware}.
The offered screws have been too lengthy for our cupboards and poked by. I purchased shorter wooden screws of the identical measurement, however they have been low cost and I saved shearing off the heads.
Additionally, the beneath aspect of the mounting clips have a bizarre dent that doesn’t enable the aluminum channels to take a seat flush in opposition to the underside of the cupboard.
I made a decision to do one thing fully completely different. It’s means simpler and I’m very pleased with the outcomes.
I purchased some Scotch Mount Excessive double sided mounting strips.
I minimize these strips into small sections and adhered them to the again aspect of the mounting channels.
When the time got here, I used to be capable of simply adhere every part of lighting (they’re very gentle) to the underside of my cupboards. Thus far I’m very pleased with how agency and safe they really feel.
Step 7: Cover Cords on the Within the Cupboards
We ended up with plenty of slack wire from the connectors and energy provide on the within of our cupboards. At Dwelling Depot, I discovered a big number of twine hiders made by Legrand.
I bought an extended straight part (that may be minimize right down to measurement) and in addition some nook items.
The wires will likely be hidden as soon as we fill the cupboards, however these wire channels assist to safe every thing and ensure we don’t snag any wires.
They have been additionally useful securing wire on the underside of our cupboards the place wanted.
As soon as the covers have been in place, we have been capable of refill the cupboards and luxuriate in our new beneath cupboard lighting!
I like how the brand new lighting actually highlights the backsplash and offers the kitchen an inviting heat glow! It feels just a little bit fancier in right here now, and I’m not complaining one bit! 🙂
Have you ever put in beneath cupboard lighting in your kitchen? I’d love to listen to your finest ideas and methods within the feedback under!
And for those who’re pondering of finishing this mission in your individual dwelling, make sure you pin this picture so you’ll find this submit later:
Thanks a lot for following alongside! Have a beautiful day!
