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Under Cabinet Lighting in the Houston Metro
Under-cabinet lighting is a job where the fixture is the easy part. What sets the scope is the wall behind the backsplash and the year the house was framed. A 1970s kitchen in Oak Forest and a 2006 kitchen in Cinco Ranch end up…
- Licensed & Insured
- 20+ years remodeling
- 17 cities served
- 102 ZIP codes covered
In short
Work starts at the panel and in the attic, not at the cabinet. We find a lighting circuit that can carry the load, confirm whether the switch box has a neutral, and check whether there is room for a dimmer at all. In older stock we pull the device, look for aluminium conductors, check box depth and…
What the work involves
Work starts at the panel and in the attic, not at the cabinet. We find a lighting circuit that can carry the load, confirm whether the switch box has a neutral, and check whether there is room for a dimmer at all. In older stock we pull the device, look for aluminium conductors, check box depth and fill, and often swap in a deeper old-work box. Then layout: fixtures go at the front edge of the cabinet bottom, behind the light rail where one exists, so the source stays out of a seated sight line. The driver is placed somewhere reachable, inside an upper cabinet or above a soffit, never sealed behind finished drywall. Then the route. Low-voltage is fished down cabinet gables through grommeted holes or across the backs of the uppers; line voltage feeds the driver from the switch. Aluminium legs get connectors listed for aluminium-to-copper. Extrusion is screwed to the cabinet bottom, tape seated in the channel, diffuser snapped in, runs cut only at marked cut points. Last is dimmer commissioning and a check for flicker at the low end.
What gets specified, and why
Three fixture classes cover nearly everything. LED tape in an aluminium extrusion with a frosted diffuser gives the most even wash and the channel doubles as a heat sink. Linear bars are pre-built versions of the same idea, easier in a retrofit with limited access. Pucks throw scallops and hot spots on polished quartz and are mostly a legacy choice. Colour matters more than people expect: 2700K to 3000K sits with warm white cabinets and most Houston kitchen palettes, and CRI in the 90s with decent deep-red rendering keeps meat and produce from looking grey on the counter. Constant-voltage 24V is preferred over 12V because voltage drop over a long galley run shows up as dimmer light at the far end. The driver and the dimmer have to be a tested pair. Forward-phase dimming on a cheap driver is where flicker, buzzing and a dead low end come from. Near the dishwasher and sink, choose a run rated for damp exposure rather than bare tape.
Why the Gulf Coast changes this job
Two Houston conditions drive the details. Heat: drivers pushed into a soffit or attic space sit in air that gets brutally hot for months, and electrolytic capacitors are what die there, so drivers go in conditioned cabinet space wherever the run allows. Humidity plus cooking grease: adhesive-backed tape mounted straight to a cabinet bottom lets go, usually at the ends first, so tape rides in a mechanically fastened channel. Inner-loop stock from the 1960s to early 80s brings its own list, including aluminium branch circuits from the late-60s window and ungrounded runs. Homes that took water in a flood event often had lower walls re-rocked and rewired, which is the moment to add a proper lighting circuit while the wall is open. Permitting differs by jurisdiction, and adding circuits inside the City is treated differently than in unincorporated Harris or Fort Bend, so that gets confirmed before anything is cut.
Where these jobs go wrong
Tapping the countertop small-appliance circuit for lighting is the common shortcut and it is the wrong source; lighting belongs on a lighting circuit. Burying the driver behind new drywall guarantees that the first failure becomes a repair with a drywall patch. Mounting the strip at the back of the cabinet instead of the front edge bounces the source off a polished granite or quartz top straight into your eyes. Skipping the diffuser leaves visible dots and a striped reflection on gloss backsplash tile. Mixing colour temperatures so under-cabinet light reads cool against warm recessed cans makes the whole kitchen look mismatched. On older wiring, pigtailing copper to aluminium with standard twist-on connectors is a real hazard, not a cosmetic issue. Running low-voltage and line-voltage conductors through the same unbushed hole invites both chafing and noise. And raking light across the counter shows everything, so hard-water film on the backsplash and an uneven grout line become visible the moment the light goes on.
What moves the price
Access is the biggest lever. A wall already open during a remodel is a fraction of the labour of fishing behind a finished tile backsplash. Whether a usable lighting circuit and a neutral already exist decides whether a new home run and panel work enter the job. Total run length and the number of separate cabinet segments drives both material and connection count. Dimming choice matters: a basic tested driver-and-dimmer pair costs far less than tunable white with a compatible control. Cabinet construction plays in too, since frameless boxes with no light rail need a recessed channel to hide the source. Aluminium branch wiring remediation, a crowded panel, and permit and inspection requirements in some jurisdictions all add scope.
How a project runs
A first visit covers the panel, the switch box, the attic or soffit above the cabinets, and the counter surface you are lighting. From there we set fixture positions, driver location and the wire route on paper before anything is opened. Electrical work is done and inspected where the jurisdiction requires it. Channels are mounted, tape seated and terminated, then the dimmer is set and the low end checked for flicker with the room dark. We clean the counter and backsplash before the final look, because the new light will show whatever is left behind. To have your kitchen looked at, call (281) 235-6971.
Common questions
My 1970s kitchen has no neutral at the switch. Is that a dealbreaker?
No, but it changes the work. Options include pulling a new switch leg with a neutral, feeding the driver from a different lighting circuit, or relocating control. What we avoid is a workaround that leaves the driver unreachable or the switch box overfilled. It gets decided after the box is opened.
There is already a junction box above my wall cabinets. Can we just reuse it?
Often yes. Builder whips left for puck lights are common in 2000s suburban kitchens and can feed a modern driver, provided the circuit and switch check out. We verify the source, the conductor size and the switch device before assuming it is usable.
Do I need a permit for this in Houston?
Electrical work is permitted here, and requirements differ between the City and unincorporated Harris or Fort Bend County. Simply replacing an existing plug-in fixture is different from adding a circuit. We confirm the requirement for your address before scheduling rather than guessing.
Under Cabinet Lighting by location
We cover 102 ZIP codes across the Houston metro. Pick the area closest to you:
- Bellaire 77401
- Brookshire 77423
- Cypress 77429
- Cypress 77433
- Fresno 77545
- Fulshear 77441
- Houston 77002
- Houston 77003
- Houston 77004
- Houston 77005
- Houston 77006
- Houston 77007
- Houston 77008
- Houston 77009
- Houston 77010
- Houston 77011
- Houston 77014
- Houston 77016
- Houston 77018
- Houston 77019
- Houston 77020
- Houston 77021
- Houston 77022
- Houston 77023
- Houston 77024
- Houston 77025
- Houston 77026
- Houston 77027
- Houston 77028
- Houston 77030
- Houston 77031
- Houston 77033
- Houston 77035
- Houston 77036
- Houston 77037
- Houston 77038
- Houston 77039
- Houston 77040
- Houston 77041
- Houston 77042
- Houston 77043
- Houston 77045
- Houston 77046
- Houston 77047
- Houston 77048
- Houston 77051
- Houston 77053
- Houston 77054
- Houston 77055
- Houston 77056
- Houston 77057
- Houston 77060
- Houston 77063
- Houston 77064
- Houston 77065
- Houston 77066
- Houston 77067
- Houston 77068
- Houston 77069
- Houston 77070
- Houston 77071
- Houston 77072
- Houston 77074
- Houston 77076
- Houston 77077
- Houston 77079
- Houston 77080
- Houston 77081
- Houston 77082
- Houston 77083
- Houston 77084
- Houston 77085
- Houston 77086
- Houston 77087
- Houston 77088
- Houston 77090
- Houston 77091
- Houston 77092
- Houston 77093
- Houston 77094
- Houston 77095
- Houston 77096
- Houston 77098
- Houston 77099
- Houston 77204
- Katy 77449
- Katy 77450
- Katy 77493
- Katy 77494
- Missouri City 77459
- Missouri City 77489
- Orchard 77464
- Richmond 77406
- Richmond 77469
- Rosenberg 77471
- Simonton 77476
- Spring 77379
- Stafford 77477
- Sugar Land 77478
- Sugar Land 77479
- Thompsons 77481
- Tomball 77377
Planning under cabinet lighting?
We measure, look at the slab and the existing rough-in, and give you a scope you can actually compare against another bid.
MS Home Remodeling · 1530 W Sam Houston Pkwy N, Houston, TX 77043 · (281) 235-6971