Wow! I guess I havent updated this thread for a while!
The kitchen is pretty much done other than a few details that we have been post poning (fridge, the accent wall and the countertop).
One of the projects that was overdue was the under cabinet lighting.
I have had many issues with it trying to find the perfect lights. These were either super expensive or it didnt fit the bill. I wanted lights with no transformer - which means hardwired, that wouldnt be super expensive and that would be LEDs most likely.
Finally the other day at Lowes I found the perfect lights! Truth be told the way they were sold were not still perfect - these were direct plug puck LED lights.Each puck had its own plug to plug it into the outlet.
The way they are intended to be used is silly and ugly... but I though - "Hey just cut off the plugs and hardwire it to the switch I had it installed.
That's what I did.
But I found other problems. I wanted a clean install so I pigtailed everything:
I put some wood blocks on the back because the front of the cabinets have a type of trim of 3/4 of an inch so my idea in order to hide the wires if needed be, was to buy a white MDF sheet and just screw it in.
After this a problem arose again. In order to have the puck lights, I need to have the holes perfect. This was a problem because I didnt have the tools and I did want to have some margin for error.
Also, I wanted that in case I needed to access in the future, it would be simple and clean to go in again.
So I though - why not use mini-plugs from the source wire that I had in series and then mini plugs in each puck?
This meant I could make my holes after covering the underneath of the cabinets and have a plug right there and all I needed to do was "CLICK"
And so I did ...after lots of research to buy the correct plugs - most of the plugs that are sold are for hardwire and not stranded wire - I finally found them.
So here's the installation finally of such lights.
I am super happy with the results and so is the wife! All in all I spent after discounts at Lowes 39 dollars for all the lights in the kitchen (9 pucks of lights).
It just needs a bit of caulk to cover the gap between the cabinets.