What makes one kitchen feel warm and inviting while another feels cold and unwelcoming? Often, you’ll see the difference comes down to one simple thing: under-cabinet lighting.
After years of helping Australian families create beautiful, functional homes, we see this pattern repeatedly. Here’s what we notice: the homeowners who use thoughtful under-cabinet lighting create kitchens that feel welcoming and work beautifully for daily cooking tasks.
But those without proper task lighting leave you squinting at chopping boards and struggling with shadows.
That’s why we at Made Minimal focus on lighting solutions that are affordable and genuinely effective for everyday cooking.
In this article, we’ll walk you through:
- Choosing between different under-cabinet lighting types
- Installation steps for LED Strip Lights that work every time
- Brightness, colour temperature, and what they mean for your kitchen
- Voice controls and modern automation options
Stay with us as we show you how to brighten your kitchen space perfectly.
How to Choose the Right Under-Cabinet Lighting for Your Kitchen
The right cabinet lighting that makes your kitchen warm and functional depends on your cabinet layout, how you use the space, and your budget.
The thing is, different kitchens need different approaches. While a compact galley kitchen works perfectly with LED strips, larger open-plan spaces often benefit from mixed lighting types.
Let’s look at the main types available and how each one works in kitchens:
Understanding Different Types of Under-Cabinet Lights
Cabinet lighting comes in three main styles: strip lights, puck lights, and bar lights. The reason these options exist is that each type offers different coverage patterns and installation methods. You don’t have to get stuck with just one type.
Here are your main options to consider:
- LED Strip Lights and Their Benefits: LED strip lights are the most popular choice because they’re flexible, energy-efficient, and give you smooth, even lighting without gaps or hot spots. Also, you can cut an LED strip to just the right length to fit any of your cupboards. It’s like having lighting that’s customised perfectly to your space.
- The Appeal of Puck Lights: Beyond strip lights, there are other powerful options available to suit your specific needs. For example, puck lights work beautifully when you want to highlight specific areas or create accent lighting inside a display cabinet. So you get that spotlight effect without having to rewire your entire kitchen.
- LED Bar Lights: When you want something between strips and pucks, bar lights offer a nice middle ground. These fixtures give you more light coverage than pucks while still maintaining that clean, focused approach that works well in smaller kitchens. This gives you targeted illumination that doesn’t overwhelm your space.
We often suggest our clients start with LED strip lights because they’re the easiest option to install and give you excellent value for your money. The whole process usually takes less than an hour, and you don’t need any special electrical skills to get it done right.
But if you need targeted lighting for specific tasks or display areas, puck lights or bar lights might be your perfect solution.
As you consider these options, the next question becomes how to get them installed. Next, we’ll walk through the installation process for LED strip lights and show you exactly what’s involved.
The Installation Process for LED Strip Lights
Thinking about installing LED strip lights yourself, but worried it might be too complicated? Don’t worry. We’re here to help.
In this section, we’re going to cover everything from preparing your cupboards to the final testing phase. What makes a difference is taking your time with the prep work, which can make the installation process much smoother.
Before you start, you should clean the underside of your kitchen cabinets thoroughly. The reason is simple: any dust or grease will stop the adhesive from sticking properly. Once your space is clean and dry, measure the length you need for each section. This step saves you from cutting strips too short or having awkward overlaps.
After you’ve done the prep work, follow these steps to install your kitchen lighting securely so it looks great:
- Test First: Test everything. That way, you can plug in your strip lights to make sure they all work before you start sticking them down.
- Apply Carefully: You should then peel off the backing and carefully press the LED strip into place under your kitchen cabinets. (Work slowly here, because once it’s stuck, repositioning can be tricky.)
- Connect Sections: For a seamless flow of light, use connectors or wires to link different sections.
- Hide Wires: Finally, tuck away the wires and power supply to create a clean, professional finish in your room.
Pro Tip: If your LED strip won’t stick properly, try warming it slightly with a hair dryer. When you do this, the gentle heat makes the adhesive more flexible and helps it bond better to your cabinet surface.
Trust us, even if your installation isn’t perfect, it’ll still look better than the dim cave you’re working with right now.
Once you’ve got your lights up and running, there are a few other things to think about beyond the basic installation. Let’s look at what else you need to consider for the best results.
Essential Considerations Beyond Installation
You’ve installed your LED strip lights and they’re working perfectly, but the job isn’t quite finished yet.
The reality is, the quality of light you get depends on several technical factors that many people overlook. These settings can make the difference between harsh, unflattering illumination and warm, welcoming kitchen lighting that works well for daily cooking.
Here are the things that you need to get right:
Lumens, Colour Temperature, and CRI
Once your strips are in place, you need to think about the quality of light they produce. First up, we measure lighting brightness in lumens. That means the more lumens you have, the brighter your lights will be. However, most kitchen applications work best between 300 and 500 lumens per metre.
What affects the mood of your space is colour temperature. While warm whites create a cosy feel, cool whites provide clearer task lighting. That’s why you should choose based on how you use your kitchen most often and what atmosphere you want to create. You don’t want your kitchen to feel like a sterile laboratory at midnight, right?
Another important factor is the CRI (Colour Rendering Index). This shows how accurately colours appear under your lights. When you want your food to look appetising, this number decides whether your tomatoes look vibrant red or dull orange under your lights.
If you get these three things right, your kitchen becomes a much more pleasant place to spend time because the lighting works with your daily routines instead of against them.
Power and Control Options for Under-Cabinet Lighting
Wondering whether you can dim your lights or turn them on and off easily without reaching under the cabinets every time? Yes, that’s possible. The best part of LED strip lighting systems is that they come with various control options that suit different needs in your space.
We once helped a couple who loved cooking together but found their bright task lighting too harsh for evening meals. After we installed dimmable strips with wireless controls, they could easily adjust the brightness from anywhere in the kitchen.
Now they’re able to have bright lights for meal prep and softer lighting for dinner conversations.
Modern Home Integration for LED Strip Lighting
Modern tech lets you connect your lighting to your home automation system for extra convenience.
For instance, advanced controllers can schedule your lights to turn on before you wake up or gradually dim as evening approaches. Plus, many systems can learn your daily patterns and adjust automatically without you having to think about it.
Here are popular features you can add:
- Voice control compatibility
- Timer scheduling
- Motion sensor activation
- Colour changing options
What’s more, you can use your voice with assistants like Alexa to control your kitchen’s lighting. Even basic commands like “dim kitchen lights to 50%” or “turn on prep lighting” make your LED strip lighting respond instantly.
What you end up with is a kitchen that feels like it’s straight out of a sci-fi movie, minus the robots trying to take over the world.
Brighten Your Kitchen with the Right Lighting Choice
Poor kitchen lighting makes cooking frustrating and your space feel unwelcoming. But when you use the right under-cabinet LED options, you can completely change how your kitchen looks and functions without major renovations.
We’ve walked you through choosing the right LED strips, understanding lumens and colour temperature, and learning the installation process. You’ve also learned about modern home integration options that make your lighting work perfectly for your daily cooking needs.
Now you have everything you need to make an informed lighting decision.
If you’re ready to upgrade your kitchen lighting, our experienced team is here to guide you through any installation challenges you might face.