Service
Under cabinet lighting installation
Under-cabinet lights are small, but hardwiring them means a feed, a switch and a place for the driver.
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Written by HyreElectrical Research Desk Primary-source research and fact checking
The short answer
Under cabinet lighting installation is a job for a licensed electrician when hardwired: a feed from a lighting circuit, a switch or dimmer, and an LED driver hidden in a cabinet or wall.
Plug-in and battery strips need no electrician. Kitchen countertop outlet circuits are for receptacles, so lighting is usually fed from a lighting circuit.
Hardwired, plug-in or battery
Hardwired looks cleanest and switches with the room. Plug-in uses a countertop outlet and a visible cord. Battery strips suit renters.
Low-voltage LED tape needs a driver sized to its wattage. See LED driver.
What the job includes
Fishing cable to each cabinet run, mounting a junction box or driver, installing a switch or dimmer, and connecting fixtures.
Dimming needs a driver and dimmer that match.
Permit, time and what changes the price
Hardwired additions often need a permit.
Price drivers: cabinet runs, wall access, driver location, dimmer type, backsplash cutting. No price ranges are published here until we hold enough sourced, dated quotes; see cost guides.
During a remodel
Rough in wiring before the backsplash and cabinets go up. It costs far less than fishing later.
Check the license on your state board before anyone starts: how to check an electrician license.
Choosing fixtures
Puck lights make pools of light; linear bars and LED tape give even light across the counter. Mount fixtures toward the front edge of the cabinet so light falls on the work surface, not the backsplash.
Color temperature and color rendering affect how food and counters look. Most kitchens use warm to neutral white. Look for listed LED products; UL 8750 covers LED equipment used in lighting products.
If the cabinets have a face-frame lip, fixtures hide behind it. Frameless cabinets may need a light rail to hide the strip.
What a fair written quote lists
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A person reads it and replies, free and with no obligation. Matching is not live yet, so this is not a quote or a dispatch line. If you smell burning or see sparks, stop using the circuit and call a licensed electrician now.
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A person at HyreElectrical reads the request and replies. Matching is not live yet, so this is not a quote or a dispatch line.
Questions
Can under cabinet lights plug into the counter outlet?
Where does the driver go?
Can they dim?
Is LED tape safe in cabinets?
Written and audited by
HyreElectrical Research Desk
Primary-source research and fact checking
We read the model code, the federal safety notice, the municipal fee sheet or the utility tariff ourselves, and we publish the figure with the document it came from and the date we retrieved it.
Where a number cannot be traced to a primary source, we publish the shorter page and say what we could not verify. HyreElectrical does not perform, supervise or warrant electrical work. Authorship is organizational: this desk, not a named persona.
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- of the store is Florida — disclosed first, not footnoted
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Sources & retrieval dates
HyreElectrical is a publisher. It does not perform, supervise, inspect or warrant electrical work, holds no electrical license, and matching is still being built, so an inquiry is not a service call.
This page is general information, not a diagnosis or a quote. Code rules vary by the NEC edition your state or city adopted and its local amendments.