I’m working on some kitchen cabinets for our house and am planning on installing some under cabinet lighting. A few weeks ago my wife and I were in Portland at a store whose name is very similar to “Idea”, and they had some pucks that seemed to be mounted flush against a cabinet bottom that was approx 3/4″ thick. THere were no visible wires, either inside or out of the cabinet. I am curious if anyone has a cleaver way of mounting these pucks without the use of a valence, in a standard cabinet bottom.
Thanks for your help,
kh
Replies
There are battery-powered puck lights. They're meant for occasional use, like inside a closet. For a kitchen, you'll need to use house power.
Could be the Swedish furniture store Ikea. Checkout their website. I have looked at their lighting but have never seen a tasklight that is not AC powered.
With so many low voltage options on the market, why couldn't you hide the wires in a false panel on the underside?
Don
Hiding the lights and wiring in a false bottom is how I always do it. Make sure the lighting you choose is ok to mount this way. Some of them create heat, especially the halogen ones, and can't have restricted air flow.
Jeff
They do, indeed create heat. The shelf gets significantly warmer just over each puck - a fact that I discovered when the chocolate that I had stored in the cabinet over one of the lights melted completely.
Darn! Had to eat it all right then.
Mike D
Hey Mike,
Jeff is quite knowledgeable about pucks! :-)
Regards,Bob @ Kidderville Acres
A Woodworkers mind should be the sharpest tool in the shop!
Yeah, and I took one off the top of the ankle bone last night!!! OUCH!!
I can barely walk today, as it looks like someone cut a tennis ball in half, painted it purple, and glued it to my ankle.
See ya, Bob.
Jeff
jeff,what sort of construction are you using for a false bottom? That was my initial thought that they had routed out channels for the cable, etc. I'm curious what your bottom winds up looking like.Thanks, kh
I extend the bottom of the cabinet down, and have two bottoms instead of one. I hide the wiring for under cabinet lighting in the gap between the two bottoms.
Jeff
My cabinets have a 1-1/2 inch deep recess in the bottom. I inserted a 3/4 inch plywood bottom into the recess and drilled it to mount snap-in halogen puck lites. They are wired by threading a wire between the sides of two cabinets - thru the approximately 3/8 inch wide gap formed between the mating face frames. The transformer and connecting wiring is all above the ceiling. The ventilation provided by the inter-cabinet gap appears to be adequate because the bottom inside of the cabinets doesn't get too hot.
Jim Seelye
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