Has anyone used IKEA's integrated lighting?

[shelivesthedream]

There's a fluorescent strip light in the kitchen in the house we're going to move into, and I hate flurorescent lights with an intense passion. (Both the quality of the light and the NOISE.) However, having done some research, changing it for a bar spotlight myself seems like it's a bit too far out of my comfort zone (and I just seriously have enough on my plate right now that I can't cope with learning another new thing).

But a friend suggested IKEA's integrated lighting range: http://www.ikea.com/gb/en/products/lighting/integrated-lighting. She basically said you can stick it to the bottom of your top cupboards and light up all your countertops with it, and it just plugs into a standard plug socket (of which we have several dotted around the kitchen). Then I'd never need to turn the fluorescent light on.

Has anyone used it? Is it that simple? Is this likely to turn out more expensive than hiring someone to come in and change the fluorescent light (and presumably patch up and repaint the ceiling)?

[lbmustache]

I use something very similar, yes it is enough to light the kitchen workspaces, although the overall lighting will be a bit low.

I can't speak to costs as I bought all my under cabinet lights at Lowe's and Home Depot.

[yodella]

Yes, we have these! They are awesome.

You may want to hide the plug somewhere. For us, that involved drilling a few holes in the cabinets so we could thread to the nearest outlet, which is also located inside a cabinet (a GFCI above the microwave). It was fairly straightforward.

The other thing to consider is how you will adhere the lights to the underside of the cabinets. I know we had some issues with our initial solution and the lights started unsticking themselves/falling off on the ends, so we adjusted accordingly.

We've also used the round Dioders to illuminate a bookcase and love them (though they took a bit more though in terms of how to hide the cords).

Good luck!

[BlueHouse]

Yes, we have these! They are awesome.

You may want to hide the plug somewhere. For us, that involved drilling a few holes in the cabinets so we could thread to the nearest outlet, which is also located inside a cabinet (a GFCI above the microwave). It was fairly straightforward.

The other thing to consider is how you will adhere the lights to the underside of the cabinets. I know we had some issues with our initial solution and the lights started unsticking themselves/falling off on the ends, so we adjusted accordingly.

We've also used the round Dioders to illuminate a bookcase and love them (though they took a bit more though in terms of how to hide the cords).

Good luck!

I did exactly the same thing.  They're great.  I agree that the plug must be hidden, especially because the plugs on ikea lights usually have adapter / transformer style BIG-ASS plugs.  So that's my advice -- make sure you can live with what the plug-in situation is going to be and hide it if at all possible. 

[sisto]

I have them and I don't think they will give you enough overall light. Can you provide pictures of what you have as I might be able to make suggestions. I had fluorescent lighting too and I replace it with a nice track light at first and later added the Ikea when I got new cabinets. Even later I installed LED can lights with a dimmer and I LOVE those the most.

[BlueHouse]

This is what I used
https://www.amazon.com/Lightkiwi-T1228-Modular-Cabinet-Lighting/dp/B00BCR87BE/ref=pd_sim_60_5?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B00BCR87BE&pd_rd_r=A4KHD8985SSZ1KZZNJ9R&pd_rd_w=Tbxah&pd_rd_wg=lFnhc&psc=1&refRID=A4KHD8985SSZ1KZZNJ9R

I drilled small holes through the cabinets to the cabinet above the microwave, where there was an existing outlet (for the microwave) and plugged in there.  So all wires are hidden and all plugs / adapters / transformers are hidden in the cabinets. 

These lights are dimmable, so very nice to dim them in the evenings.   They come with stick on adhesive and screws.  I used the adhesive to position the light strips where I wanted them, then screwed in for permanence.  Perfect.   Couldn't be happier.  When at their brightest, they throw magnificent lighting onto the counters! 

I'm sure Ikea lights will be similar, but like I said before, I don't like their giant transformers.