#Under Cabinet Lighting - Lighting Styles

Under shelf lighting has been around for a few years now but the latest products are quite different from the lights that appeared under kitchen cabinets 20 years ago.

Fluorescent under shelf lighting now uses T4 and T5 ultra slim fluorescent tubes operating on high frequency flicker free control gear. This not only stops the pop, pop of the lamps when they are switched on but also eliminates the flicker associated with old fluorescent fittings. Using the latest slimline fluorescent under cabinet lighting also reduces your running costs as the lamps last longer and uses less energy. T5 fluorescent fittings also only use the best quality triphosphor tubes for good colour rendering i.e. meat looks red, fish looks fresh and oranges look well orange.

These well engineered fluorescent under shelf light unit come fitted with male plugs/female sockets at either end, making it very flexible to join and form continuous lengths of lighting.

Halogen lamps used in under shelf lighting typically use 20w G4 lamps and operate at 12v. Several lights can be operated on one transformer. The light from halogen under shelf cabinet lights is crisp and white and looks particularly effective on reflective surfaces like granite. You should however be aware that halogen lamps do create more heat than fluorescent or LED lamps but this has to be offset by the sparkle from these lamp types.

If you have a bigger budget or you do not wish to fit cornice to the underside of your kitchen cabinets you could use either the more decorative halogen lights that are built into to glass plates or use some of the latest linear led solutions under your kitchen cabinets or to light the pelmet to the underside of the floor cabinets.

For retailers we offer a low (20mm) profile and bright linear LED under cabinet shelf light giving enhanced product display while generating as little heat as possible. This small and unobtrusive system uses the latest ultra-high output 1 watt LED’s and provides in excess of 200 lux of even illumination measured at 500mm and generates no projected heat or UV. Lamp life is over 50,000 hours of continuous operation — the product is one of truly ‘fit and forget’.

Being modular, the system is totally flexible, and whilst purpose designed for display lighting, can also be used for numerous applications — retail shelf systems, retail display cabinets, bar and refrigerated displays, museum and art gallery projects, under shelf lighting, worktop lighting.