New Toe Kick and Under Counter Lighting
We had previously moved the toe kick lighting switch from the entry door to the kitchen as part of an earlier update. Now it was time to upgrade the floor (toe kick) lights and the under-counter lights.
The floor lighting in the kitchen was completely non-functional, while the strip in the bathroom was still intact and working well. There was no toe kick lighting in the hutch/pantry area, so we wanted to add one there.
The under-counter lighting was mostly out, with only a few lights working. Lighting was present in the kitchen, bathroom, and hutch countertop areas.
Choose your parts
Yes, for the strip lights I used a constant voltage power converter that can step up or down the input voltage and provide a steady 12V output. Was it necessary? Probably not. Was it better? Yes. DWMYH
We used the same outdoor accent LED strip lights that we had installed in the storage bays. The strips were mounted using VHB tape onto aluminum angle brackets, which were then attached to the cabinets using the clips that came with the channels. We also added a frosted lens cover since this was meant to be accent lighting.
Even with the frosted lens and lower-brightness strip, the lights were too bright, so a dimmer was needed. We used a generic 8amp dimmer that worked well. Full disclosure: it's since been replaced with something better, which I'll cover in a future post.
I didn't have a good location to install the dimmer where it would remain easily accessible, so I mounted it underneath the kitchen drawers, assuming it would be a "set it and forget it" situation. The above dimmer is available under several brands, and it looks like something out of the 80's, but inside it has a somewhat modern solid state PWM.
Dimmer Side Notes
Here are a few notes on dimmers, at least as I understand them. There are two types: high-side and low-side.
- High-side dimmers connect on the positive (+) side and control the flow of power into the load.
- Most high-side dimmers have 3 wires: an Input (+), Output (+), and a Ground (-) which is only required to power the dimmer itself, not the light fixture.
- Low-side dimmers connect on the negative (–) side and control the return path to ground.
- Most low-side dimmers have 4 wires: (+)(-) Input and (+)(-) Output. Oddly, the two positive wires are typically just connected together inside the dimmer. That (+) is only required to power the dimmer.
Both types use PWM (Pulse Width Modulation). Which one you need (high-side or low-side) depends on your wiring and how your lighting is configured.
The dimmer I purchased turned out to be a low-side type. Here is another low-side example. At the time, I wasn't aware of the distinction between high-side and low-side dimming.
A low-side dimmer references ground and requires full control of the ground path. If the negative sides of your lights aren't all grouped with a single path common ground, you'll end up on a frustrating wiring hunt. How do I know this? Because that's exactly what happened.
A high-side dimmer wouldn't have had this issue, as it controls the positive voltage going into the lights. You'd just place it after the switch. However, finding a high-side dimmer that isn't integrated with its own switch seems to be difficult.
Two high-side examples I found are:
Back to the Lighting
We ran two new wires from the bathroom sink cabinet to the kitchen sink cabinet. Since relocating the toe kick switch was a retrofit, the original power and ground junctions were located at the base of the bathroom sink. With the new switch now in the kitchen, we needed to adjust things accordingly. Fortunately, all grounds were grouped into a single return path, which made the low-side dimmer setup work perfectly.
Adding the toe kick light to the hutch was simple. There is already wiring in place running from the bathroom sink base to the hutch base. I just had to run two additional wires through the existing openings. In the base of the hutch, I drilled a small hole to feed the LED strip wire through.
Under-Counter Lights
Replacing the under-counter lights turned out to be a chore. The original light strips had a P-shaped profile, with the lights embedded in the rounded part (the "O") and fastened using staples along the straight edge (the "I"). These strips were installed before the countertop was added, which made removal awkward.
You basically have to tear them out.
After ripping out the strips, I went back and pulled the leftover staples. A screwdriver works to twist them out, or you can grab them with needle-nose pliers. The old strips weren't flexible anymore and had a greasy, oily film on them, likely old plasticizer leaching from the PVC or vinyl casing. Not something you want to touch much. Wash your hands afterward.
With the old rope lighting gone, we used the same LED strip lights throughout. These have a silicone jacket with VHB tape for mounting. I found a body filler spreader worked well for guiding the strip into place since the tape didn't stick to the tool, allowing adjustment.
Wiring Adventure
Thought I had a shared ground for the under-counter lights. Turns out... not.
I traced the kitchen ground toward the bathroom, behind the toilet and inside the corner cabinet. Disassembled the interior of that cabinet. Thick wire bundles taped and clamped to the floor and walls makes access nearly impossible.
Nope, not there.
Eventually I followed the wire through the bathroom into the lower hutch cabinet. Disassembled the interior of that cabinet.
Nope, not there.
Continuing forward through a floor-level raceway next to the outside wall. The tone from my signal tracer stopped near the table next to the recliner.
So I pulled the table (yes, more disassembly) — and found the culprit. The original tabletop must've had a built-in lamp and lighting. When that was removed, the +12V was capped, but the grounds were bundled together. That created a sneaky alternate return path.
One snip, problem solved. With the table out, I decided to do something useful with it and added a USB outlet on the recliner side (way more convenient).
And reassembled all the cabinets that came apart in the search for that ground wire.
There is always one
The under-counter lights in the hutch and bathroom were easy. The kitchen? Not so much. The connection is in the far-back corner of the peninsula cabinet, behind a tight gap. If I had realized how tight before adhering the strip, I would've shortened it and tucked the connection alongside it.
Instead, I had to enlarge the pass-through hole (from inside to outside) and solder a slim connection. Crimps were too bulky. An alternate method would be to run a new cable from under the stove top area (where the original wiring starts) and make the connection there, just something to keep in mind!
Topic: New Toe Kick and Under Counter Lighting