«
»

Electrical question: What’s involved with adding this type of lighting to my kitchen?

I love the look at the attached URL, especially the lighting above the cabinets.

http://ryzenhomes.com/Photo%20Gallery/kitchen-white.jpg

I wouldn’t attempt this on my own, but just for my information, what’s involved? Would the electrician run a wall switch-controlled outlet above the cabinets and then I’d plug the lights into them, then turn them on and off at the wall switch? Same for the ones under the cabinets?

I know it depends on where you live, but is this expensive?

1) How you operate them is up to you and a few contributing factors that must be evaluated at the site.
2) Cost of fixtures depends on type.
3) Installation could only take anywhere from a couple of hours to a whole day . Depends on the previously mentioned contributing factors.
4) Electrician’s who charge by the hour don’t take those legal short-cuts that make the entire project ugly. (fixtures above cabinets :are they straight? Are the wires twisted together before the wire-nut is installed? Are the wires stabbed into the back of the switch as opposed to being wrapped around the screw? All of these are legal short-cuts,but make the overall job just "ugly". IN MY OPINION
5) Above cabinet lights are different than under cabinet lights.(wattage, style,and installation)
6) If the job is planned correctly, and depending on those few contributing factors, you maybe looking at cost of anywhere from $750.00 to $1,500.00
Keep in mind that I can only go on what what I see and I haven’t seen your kitchen.
Just in case no one has told you, stay away from T-12 fluorescent bulbs. Buy T–8’s or T-5’s fluorescent fixtures. "Be good to Mother earth" stuff. (plus they are doing away with T-12’s)

This entry was posted on Thursday, May 20th, 2010 at 5:02 pm and is filed under kitchen lighting. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

2 Responses to “Electrical question: What’s involved with adding this type of lighting to my kitchen?”

  1. Mr Fixit Says:
    May 20th, 2010 at 10:36 pm

    the electrician would wire them direct to wall switches unless you request otherwise
    References :

  2. EagleWatcher Says:
    May 20th, 2010 at 11:09 pm

    1) How you operate them is up to you and a few contributing factors that must be evaluated at the site.
    2) Cost of fixtures depends on type.
    3) Installation could only take anywhere from a couple of hours to a whole day . Depends on the previously mentioned contributing factors.
    4) Electrician’s who charge by the hour don’t take those legal short-cuts that make the entire project ugly. (fixtures above cabinets :are they straight? Are the wires twisted together before the wire-nut is installed? Are the wires stabbed into the back of the switch as opposed to being wrapped around the screw? All of these are legal short-cuts,but make the overall job just "ugly". IN MY OPINION
    5) Above cabinet lights are different than under cabinet lights.(wattage, style,and installation)
    6) If the job is planned correctly, and depending on those few contributing factors, you maybe looking at cost of anywhere from $750.00 to $1,500.00
    Keep in mind that I can only go on what what I see and I haven’t seen your kitchen.
    Just in case no one has told you, stay away from T-12 fluorescent bulbs. Buy T–8’s or T-5’s fluorescent fixtures. "Be good to Mother earth" stuff. (plus they are doing away with T-12’s)
    References :
    Electrician since 1977

Leave a Reply