Super Easy Above and Under Kitchen Cabinet Lighting Solution

Brighten up your workspace with this super easy to install above and under kitchen cabinet lighting.

Have you ever been on a mission to remodel your small kitchen without spending a fortune? I was!

When I was standing on the countertop painting above the cupboards, an idea hit me.

“I wonder if the kitchen would feel bigger if there were better lighting in here?”

One thought led to another, which eventually led us to our local Home Depot store.

I didn’t even know what I was searching for, but a big red sale sign stopped me in my tracks: “Plug in ultra slim LED light strip for above and under cabinet lighting – 70% off!”

I bought the 3 remaining sets knowing I could return them if they didn’t work out.

How this Easy Above and Under Kitchen Lighting System Works

I certainly didn’t need to return them. Because, we LOVE them!

What ultra slim LED strip kit lights are:

The ultra slim LED strip kit we found comes in various lengths. The sets we bought were 36″ consisting of 3 LED strip lights that can be attached together to form 1 long 36″ strip.

Then, the cord is plugged into the end and plugged into a wall socket.

Pros for this easy above kitchen cabinet lighting.

Without the magic of photo editing, our little kitchen is rather dark. This photo was taken on a beautiful, sunny day. However, not a lot of natural light makes its way into the room.

Now look at this space with the nifty above kitchen cabinet lighting on!

I still can’t get over what a HUGE difference it makes. The space is much brighter and cheerier and feels larger, too!

How we installed the above the kitchen cabinets LED light strip.

Friends, I’m almost embarrassed to admit how easy this installation was. We simply

1. assembled the 2 36″ strips, 
2. attached the cords to the ends,
3. fished them through the corner gaps between our cupboards and the wall, and
4. set them on top. That’s it!

Cons to this above cabinet LED strip light system

The biggest “con” to this above kitchen cabinet lighting system is that the cord and plug aren’t easily hidden.

If you look beside that white canister, you can see where one strip light is plugged in. The plug in situation is something you’ll have to think about in your own kitchen situation. Thankfully, our little kitchen was outfitted with quite a few plug ins, so there was one situated in the spot we needed.

This system comes with a handy on/ off switch, but it is located a long way away from the actual plug in! (Maybe that’s why they were on such a good sale?) In reality, the on off switch is sitting on top of the cabinets! It’s not super handy up there. (tee hee) But, when we want to turn off that set of lights, we simply unplug them.

Also, it was super important to me that there weren’t any long black cords showing. Our oddly designed kitchen has a perk that worked in our favor this time. In both of the corners behind the cabinets is a huge space – perfect for fishing the lights through. If you are considering this light system you might want to think through the cord and plug in situation.

How to use this light system for under kitchen cabinet lighting

This ultra slim LED strip kit is also designed for under cabinet lighting as well.

It comes with a lot of hardware options. You simply screw in the clips and attach it to the underside of the cabinet.

As you can see, in our situation, we attached 2 strips together and then used a cord adaptor (an add on we bought), so that we could place the third strip to form an “L” in the corner.

I can’t believe how this corner lights up now!

Cons of this under kitchen cabinet lighting

Since our cabinets weren’t designed to hide under counter lighting, I don’t particularly care for the light strips showing under the cabinets. However, you may in your situation be able to add trim strategically to hide it in your situation.

Having the light strips in this corner is a bit of a hidden space, so the lights showing over here doesn’t bother me as much.

Tips for installing and using these above and under kitchen cabinet LED strip kit lights

As you can see, the plug ins for these lights are a bit bulky and cumbersome. To free up a plug in in the corner, we purchased a 3 plug adaptor to plug into the upper plug receptacle.

That way the 2 plugs for the LED light strips only use up one of our wall mounted plug ins.

We can access this under cabinet on off switch under this counter, and then we just unplug the upper light when we want to shut it off.

We absolutely love our new brighter kitchen!

Looking for some more small kitchen ideas? These previous posts may be of interest to you:

• Small kitchen remodel for $159
• Budget Friendly kitchen remodel ideas
• Small kitchen organization ideas
• Under the kitchen sink organization and DIY cabinet mat
• My Sister’s Kitchen Makeover Reveal

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