Plinth and undercab lighting

[PaDE]

Our Kitchen refurb is chugging along nicely (albeit it slowly) and our units should arrive today or tomorrow.

We are down to the final details, one of which is the plinth and undercab lighting - so looking for recommendations.

Both will be wired into the lighting circuit and controlled via ZWave switches, a schedule or mobile devices.

Quite fancy LED strip lighting but there’s so much to choose from.

Also RGBW would be a bonus, where I suppose colour changing would be done with an accompanying remote rather than ZWave (which will be limited to switching it all on or off)

Also, how do you guys manage with plinth lighting and integrated units such as dishwashers. Do you miss that section out or still run under it?

Cheers all

 

[PaDE]

that I am very interested to find out!
I am looking to run LED lights under the plinth but not sure how I can do that where the integrated dish washer is!

Depending on the door the only solution I can think of is a bit of plastic angle beading spanning the distance where you can stick the LED tape.

Only any good if there’s clearance with the door opening. Failing that you could drop it a few mm to get the clearance which may make th light look a little odd

 

[PaDE]

Dropping it how exactly? Bit of wood?

Thanks psd99. Maybe or maybe some plastic beading.

Definitely a case of waiting until it’s all in situ, then doing what’s best aesthetically. If it can’t be done it can’t be done.

 

[PaDE]

@psd99

I was thinking this

https://advice.diy-kitchens.com/customer-questions/led-strip-lighting-under-integrated-appliances/

 

[PaDE]

thanks that might just work!

If you get to do it in the next couple of weeks, do post some pics. Our kitchen is not going in for at least 2 weeks so maybe another week at least after that before I try this out.

Cheers

 

[PaDE]

I've been looking tonight at LEDS to buy and its a little confusing (when your electrically challenged) - Plus our Sparky seems to have gone AWOL, hence the question here

Our plinth and under cabinet lights are going to be controlled via a wall switch. And from first fix we have the cables from the lighting circuit sitting there (poking out of the plaster) waiting to be connected up to the LEDS (we aren't having sockets)

The problem being, the LEDS I'm finding online are the plug-in variety, the type with walwarts/transformers. Do you cut these walwarts/transformers off and connect the LED strips to the lighting circuit via some electrical box?

Cheers

 

[PaDE]

Perfect, thank you both

The LEDs you are looking at with a transformer are 12V instead of the 230V mains. You can cut the plugs/transformers off these but they will need a separate 230v to 12v transformer to feed them.

Alternatively you can find 230v LED strips but the options are a lot less.

​

Don't wire the LED strips directly to your lighting circuit. As Matty says above the they need a transformer from 240 down to 12v.

Unless you know the power pack and LEDs are really reliable, I would run a socket to under the cabinets, otherwise when it comes to replace/fix you have the added hassle of disconnecting. A socket under the cabs and behind the plinth means you can just unplug as the power will be controlled by your light switch.

 

[PaDE]

you don't happen to know where that angle moulding strip is generally used? Is it for tiling.

I believe so, as I saw some in B&Q (various sizes) the other day

 

[PaDE]

Kitchen done so finally got around to tackling the plinth lighting and in particular the dish washer.

For door clearance, the plinth under the dish washer has been notched out so I've placed some angled beading and tried to run as straight a line as possible (even though it drops) actually looks better than I thought it would.

The dish washer is the top left unit in this pic

The dish washer is straight ahead in the next two pics

From below you can see the notched plinth. Doesn't look the prettiest but you can't see it unless you go commando. The dishwasher opens without catching

 

[PaDE]

looks good!!

I found the area underneath my dishwasher slightly tricky. it is when the strip is dropping down, you have to turn the strip slightly for the drop.

Light is uneven in that area but all things considered I can’t do too much about it.

Is the strip dropping down over time?

 

[PaDE]

no what I mean is under the dishwasher some of the strip is vertical
look on both sides of the angle bead u put there on the right hand side and left hand side there is a slight drop
mine is a bit more. but it meant that we had to slightly turn the LED strip

what controller u using?

Everything is Z-Wave (wall switches and a wall mounted iPad for local control) and HomeSeer to run events like sunset / luminosity etc. Or integration with Alexa.

Had to return first lot of LEDs as powering off at the wall switch for X amount of time meant they next turned on to a default disco.

So opted for basic bright LEDs both cheaper and better for our use.