Undercabinet lighting advice

Hello...I could use some advice on undercabinet lighting. I have about 10 feet of space I'd like to illuminate. The kitchen has outlets inside two cabinets so I would like to go with plugin rather than hard-wired. The two options I am looking at right now are the Ikea Dioder LED light strips or T4 micro fluorescents.

Any suggestions as to what the better choice is? If I go flourescent, should I go with the warm white, cool white, or daylight? The other lighting in the kitchen is recessed cans with warm white fluorescent and incandescent.

Or should I look at some other option entirely?

I don't know if you would want to look at slimline instant start lamps or not. The bulbs you would be looking at would be a F96T12/SPX30. These lamps are 96 inches (8 feet) long, 1 1/2 inches in diameter, 75 Watts in power, a color temperature of 3000K (Halogen), and a color rendering Index of 82. The one foot left over on the sides should be easily illuminated by the light dispersal from the lamp as it gets down to the counter top. The lamp is capable of 90 initial lumens per watt, with 6800 initial lumens and 6390 Mean lumens. I would not know if you would want one or two of these lamps. This technology is proven and unless you use an electronic ballast the only thing that has changed since the 30's or 40's would be the phosphor.

I'm a big fan of the Dioder strips - I have a white-only set of these atop my kitchen cabinets for uplighting, and the effect is beautiful thanks to how remarkably neutral their tint is, I'd say a nice, even 3500K. Plus each set comes with all the mounting brackets and screws, so you can get a professional-looking installation.

Word of advice though, don't get the color set unless you specifically need colored light; the white light on the color set is very violet/5mm-ish.

Husker Runner said:

] Any suggestions as to what the better choice is?

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Sorry, not familiar with these two lights.

If I go flourescent, should I go with the warm white, cool white, or daylight?

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I think the cool white would be your least prefered choice here. The other two should be fine.

Or should I look at some other option entirely?

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LED and fluorescent are the smart options. Either one would work. jrmcferrens eight foot tube would light the place up good and strong. If it was me I might lean towards two four foot bulbs rather than one eight, just so as to not have to have eight foot bulbs around the house. I might also consider T-8 rather than T-12. They have a higher initial cost, but lower lifetime cost due to efficiency.

Great, thanks for the feedback! I should have specified that it is 10 feet total, but it is split up in three sections so I will need a series of smaller bulbs. The Ikea Dioder looks cool but I would have to order online without seeing them and they are kind of expensive. My biggest concern was whether they would be bright enough to illuminate the kitchen counter workspace.

Good to know that the white on the color set is inferior to the white set, that will eliminate that temptation. Though I might pick up a color set just for fun.

If you're wanting work light, go with the fluorescents, the Dioder strips are just for accent lighting, and would be drowned out by your ambient kitchen light.

I'd get fluorescents in 3500k. Warmer white fluorescents tend not to look as good (compared to incans at comparable color temps). Cool or Daylight will proabyl be too muhc of a clash with the rest of your lighting which is warm. 3500k is a nice "compromise" color temperature, and it's actually my general preference for indoor lighting.

FWIW, lighting designers and engineers always choose warm white in kitchens. Color temp(kelvin) and CRI is very important in a kitchen. Not only for "mood" but also the effect is has on food color.

You'll almost always notice a different task lighting in restaurants around the salad bar and buffet. That is for the same reasons I listed above. Food prep areas in restaurants and commercial kitchens aren't always as warm as home kitchens.