RS Recommends: The Best Under-Cabinet Lighting for Your Studio or Home

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Installing additional lights under cabinets is easier than you might think — and most don’t even require any tools. The best under-cabinet light strips offer up a few different benefits.

First, aesthetically, they can instantly boost the look and feel of any room, adding a soft glow and additional pop of color without repainting or replacing cabinets. Beyond that however, they’re also practical, giving the room additional brightness where it’s needed most, like countertops when cooking, and floors for navigating at night.

Buying Guide: How to Pick the Best Under-Cabinet Lighting and Light Strips

Here are some basic things to consider when shopping for the best under-cabinet lighting for your space.

Measurements: Lumens is a measurement of brightness, abbreviated as lm, and 2000lm is a safe bet for lighting up areas such as kitchen countertops. You may also notice K, for Kelvin, 3000K is about average, with 5000K being at the higher end. For voltage, 12V is on the lower side, with some stretching 24V and above.

Installation: If you’re not handy with tools, or you live in a place where you can’t mess with the walls and wiring, there are still options out there for you. Adhesive backing is an excellent alternative, and avoids having to drill altogether. There are even lights that you can wire into your home’s electrical system, freeing up outlets and hiding wires running everywhere.

Light bars with pre-determined lengths may be easier to install, but the measurements don’t always line up with your space, and may create unlit gaps in the chain. That’s why some newer light strips give you the ability to cut them yourself, so they line up perfectly every time.

Extras: The features vary on all of these, but some can be really convenient, like a brightness dial that lets you dim or increase it right from your phone. A memory function can also be handy for keeping the same settings without having to find it each time. Connecting it to an existing smart home system is easy too, just make sure it’s compatible first.

What Are the Best Under-Cabinet Lights?

Here are our top recommendations to upgrade your studio or home lighting situation.