“The kitchen is the heart of the home.”
Want to make your kitchen warmer, more modern or traditional etc,? Well look no further, this blog will help you transform your kitchen, and elevate the design of your kitchen.
Fortunately, there’s no need to completely remodel or renovate your kitchen to give it your desired look. A simple and cost-effective way to add character to your kitchen is with LED strip lighting.
LED strip lights are easy to use as there are no complicated tools and equipment required, with most strip lights featuring self-adhesive backing or being supplied with fixing screws. This makes them extremely versatile, allowing you to visually enhance your kitchen, offering multiple ways to incorporate them almost anywhere in the kitchen. They can sit at the edge of your ceiling, under your units or cabinets, or even on the floor. They can also act as a unifying element between your kitchen and open-plan living area or create consistency throughout your home.
Why use kitchen strip lights?
- To create ambience, giving your kitchen space a whole new feel and vibe.
- Their versatility allows you to easily incorporate them into your existing kitchen design with minimal additional effort.
- They are economical thanks to their long-life span and energy-efficient capabilities.
- Help remove shadows from your cabinets or individuals casting a shadow over the countertop, which can actually be a safety risk.
- Offer a smart design with colour-changing options allowing you to create different effects, evoke different atmospheres, and influence mood. For instance, cool blue lighting helps create a more contemporary and futuristic feel, perfect for modern kitchens whilst warmer lighting creates a cosy, homely vibe, perfect for traditional homes.
Where to install your strip lights in the kitchen:
There are three main areas of the kitchen that LED strip lights are often mounted on, and these often have varying effects.
- Under cabinets – This is ideal for illuminating shelves and counter tops below your kitchen cabinets more evenly, creating a sophisticated and elegant effect that requires minimal time and effort. Under cabinet strip lights can help provide a focal point across kitchen worktops, as well as make your cabinets really stand out. They are also suitable for use as task lighting, illuminating shelves, and working surfaces to ensure safety whilst going about your day-to-day kitchen tasks.
- Above cabinets – This is best for kitchens where cabinets are connected to the ceiling, so installing your LED strip lights at the joint will help create your desired atmosphere. To install LED strip lights above cabinets (on a ceiling or wall) ensure they’re installed behind a lip, such as at the edge of a drop-down ceiling or at the top of moulded coving to help hide the LED tape whilst ensuring a full lighting effect that is sleeker and aesthetically pleasing.
- Floor cabinets – These are ideal installation locations for creating ambient low lighting. Your LED strip lights can be mounted on floor cabinets to echo the surround lights in the kitchen.
Please note that LED strip lights can warm up slightly when they’re switched on, so it is important not to install them on flammable surfaces (at temperatures of less than 60-degrees Celsius). It is advised to mount them on a metal surface to help dissipate some of the heat. You can also place the LED strip lights in a profile before mounting them to the surface using brackets. You can find these in our range of Tape Accessories.
How to fit led strip lights in your kitchen:
Step 1: Measure the length of your installation area exactly, and the size of the strip lights your kitchen needs, then choose the right tape for the job, cutting it to length if required. For kitchens, it is advised to go with waterproof LED strip lights.
Step 2: Ensure that the surface is clean, dry, dust and oil-free (to prevent unwanted glare and bulb reflection) in order for the strip light to hold properly. If the cabinet surface is not clean and dry, mount your LED strip light on an aluminium profile that can be screwed into place.
Step 3: Stick the LED strip onto the cabinet, then plug it in to turn on the lights. Note that may need a compatible driver and LED connector wire if your LED strip lights can be powered by the mains power supply.
Step 4: Finally, you can enjoy your new kitchen transformation.
Our range of waterproof LED Strip Lights:
Before installing your LED strip lights in your kitchen, it is important to note that lights in the kitchen – for safety reasons – it’s recommended to be waterproof, hence when choosing strip lights designed for use in the kitchen, it’s encouraged that to you buy waterproof LED strip lights.
The Robus RVA48306730 Vegas 4.8W 12V IP67 Waterproof 60LED/m LED Strip Lights Warm White is not only suitable for use in kitchens but can be used to enhance bars/clubs, restaurants, hotel/office receptions, showrooms, exhibition stands, step lighting, window dressing and under counter displays.
It provides brilliant lighting that is ideal for domestic, retail, commercial, and entertainment applications.
The Robus RVA48306730 LED Strip Lights emit a 3000K warm white light that creates a homely and cosy effect that is ideal for traditional kitchens.
With an IP67 ingress protection rating, it is safe to use in both indoor and outdoor applications. This ingress protection rating also adds to the safety of use in kitchens where water drops may land on the lights.
With the Robus RVA48306730 LED Strip Lights, you can cut every 6 LEDs and reconnect as required (60/m number of LEDs).
In addition, the Robus RVA48306730 LED Strip Lights have a 30,000-hour average lifespan and come with 3 years warranty included.
The Robus RVA48306730 LED Strip Lights has a 12 voltage rating which means it would require a 12V driver as it is important to use the correct driver with the same output voltage as the tape or your LEDs simply not light up.
LED drivers:
These help regulate and supply power to your LED strip lights. The LED drivers we offer, provide incredible energy savings.
We also provide IP20-rated drivers which are ideal for indoor use only, and IP67-rated drivers which are suitable for both indoor and outdoor applications thanks to their waterproof construction. The IP67-rated drivers are better suited for use in kitchens as the kitchen LED strip lights are more susceptible to damage from water droplets. Check out our extensive range of LED drivers.
We also offer:
IP67 rated waterproof LED strip lights with different coloured lighting and with higher wattage ratings:
- Robus RVA48406730 Vegas 4.8W 12V IP67 Waterproof 60LED/m LED Strip Lights Natural White – Provides you with a 4000K natural white light and requires a 12V driver.
- Robus RVA96306730 Vegas 9.6W 24V IP67 Waterproof 120 LED Strip Light, Warm White – Provides you with a 3000K warm white light and requires a 24V driver.
- Robus RVA96406730 Vegas 9.6W 24V IP67 Waterproof 120 LED Strip Light, Natural White – Provides you with a 4000K natural white light and requires a 24V driver.
The Robus RVA14RGB6730 Vegas 14.4W 24V IP67 Waterproof 60 RGB LED Strip Light is a dimmable LED tape/ strip light that is perfect for use in bars, clubs, restaurants, under counter displays, step lighting, exhibition stands, and offices. It is also suitable for use in transforming your kitchen thanks to its resilient and waterproof IP67 ingress protection rating.
It allows you to choose and adjust colour accents to set a mood or required ambience, providing seamless and smooth changes between red, green, and blue light output. You can get an LED tape controller to control and adjust the colours, colour mode/brightness of the LED strip light here.
In addition, it can be cut every 6 LEDs and reconnected as required (30/m number of LEDs).
The Robus RVA14RGB6730 RGB LED Strip Light has a 30,000 hours average lifespan with a 120-degree beam angle. It also comes with 3 years warranty included.
Dimensions of L 30,000mm x Dia 10mm.
Other Robus tape accessories include:
- The Robus RVARGB-AMP Vegas 432W IP20 RGB Signal Amplifier which is designed for synchronous operation over long distances. It is ideal for use with Vegas LED drivers and is designed for flexi-strips over 10m long.
- The Robus RVARGBL-CONN Vegas Easy Clip L Connector which is designed for use with 7.2W 12V IP20 RGB LED Strip Light. It is a 2 way corner connector used for joining up to two LED strips together.
- The Robus RVACCT1W50 Vegas 20WAG 2 Core DC Lines Wire for Single Colour LED Strip is a VEGAS 20WAG 2 core DC lines wire for usage with single colour LED flexible strip lights in lengths of 50m. It is a high-quality LED lighting solution that is ideal for domestic, retail, entertainment and commercial applications. It features 2 cores including earth, ensuring protection against electrocution and serious injury.
KSR Under-Shelf Lighting:
The KSR under-shelf lighting solution is an instant-on, non-dimmable LED fixed luminaire that is ideal for use in under-shelve and kitchen cabinet lighting. They are another energy and cost-efficient way to transform your kitchen thanks to their built-in LED capabilities. The under-shelf lighting we offer come supplied with a mains power supply cable and fixing brackets for ease of installation.
The KSR KSRCL194 Morini 3W 3000K/4000K CCT LED Undershelf Light is a better alternative for traditional T5 fluorescent lights as it is highly energy efficient thanks to its LED capabilities. This instant-on and non-dimmable LED fixed luminaire solution can be mounted horizontally or vertically. It is ideal for illuminating under shelves, under cabinets and working surfaces.
Due to its LED capabilities, it offers a long operational 40,000 hours life span, making it a cost-effective long-term solution for transforming your kitchen.
The 3W KSR KSRCL194 undershelf light features LED colour selectable options of 3000K (320 lumens) warm white light which is ideal for a more homely ambience, and 4000k (330 lumens) cool white light which can be used to create a brighter more modern feel, all incorporated in a single luminaire fitting.
It features a frosted diffuser cover with an extruded white polycarbonate body that can withstand some force. This is because it uses a high-volume manufacturing technique that ensures durability.
It also comes complete with a mains voltage supply cable, a 2 metre start of run lead, a built-in LED driver which means no external drivers/transformers are required, and a surface mounting fixing bracket.
In addition, the KSRCL194 3000K/4000K CCT LED undershelf light is inter-connectable either by plugging directly into the previous fitting or by using an optional link lead.
With an IP20 ingress protection rating, the KSRCL194 is touch-proof and resistant to dust ingress or objects over 12mm in size and complies with BSEN60598-1:2021 standards.
It comes with a 2-year warranty for peace of mind.
Dimensions of L 250mm x H 30mm x W 22mm.
We offer the KSR Morini under shelf lights in varying sizes:
- KSR KSRCL195 Morini 4W 3000K/4000K CCT LED Undershelf Light – L 344mm x H 30mm x W 22mm
- KSR KSRCL196 Morini 7W 3000K/4000K CCT LED Undershelf Light – L 571mm x H 30mm x W 22mm
- KSR KSRCL197 Morini 14W 3000K/4000K CCT LED Undershelf Light – L 905mm x W 22mm x H 30mm
Accessories for your LED strip lights:
If you plan to use two or more sets of strip lights for your kitchen transformation, you will need to connect cut sections of LED strips. This will require a strip-to-strip connector such as the Integral LED ILSTAA018 | 2 Way Connector with wire suitable for 8mm IP20 and IP30 rated Integral flexible LED tapes.
Strip-to-strip connectors are purpose designed to make custom-feature lighting installations as simple and flexible as possible.
They are used to attach a connector end to the strip and wire to the power supply, crimping an LED tape that has been cut, using the connections at the cut-point, and providing a power connection to the LED tape. Note that the crimp connectors can only be used once as is not suitable for being re-crimped or being crimped released on the same connection points of the strip.
We also offer the Integral LED ILPFC047 2m Corner Surface Mounted Aluminium Profile Frosted Diffuser with 2 Endcaps & 4 Mounting Brackets which is suitable for a range of applications up to 12mm width Integral IP33/65/67 strips, including heavy furniture, glass cabinets, and accent lighting in ceilings.
Other Integral LED light strip/tape accessories include:
- The Integral LED ILPFA005 Profile Endcap without Cable Entry for ILPFS001/002/003/004 which is designed for surface-mounted IP33, 15.2mm x 6mm aluminium profiles.
- The Integral LED ILPFA166 Profile Flat Connector for ILPFR164 / ILPFR165 which is a connector for rails. It is designed to allow users to connect two plaster-in profiles in order to create a continuous linear lighting effect.
Check out our extensive range of tape accessories.
Aside from tape accessories, we also provide devices that complement your LED strip lights such as LED tape amplifiers.
These are perfect when operating long LED strip lights or RGBW strip lights that have multiple lengths yet just one colour controller. LED tape amplifiers are also fantastic for ensuring colour consistency, clarity, and brightness for your kitchen lighting installations.
LED strip lights are:
- the most versatile,
- energy-efficient,
- cost-saving,
- and minimal-effort way of elevating your kitchen.
When choosing an LED strip light to help elevate and transform your kitchen space, look for ones with easy-cut points to ensure there’s no overhang under your cabinets. Also, look out for thin cables that can be inconspicuously trailed back to socket points to avoid unsightly wiring/installations.
In conclusion, regardless of your budget or project, we have an LED strip lighting solution that is perfect for you.