How to allow for under cabinet lighting with the 32mm system?

[sprior]

I'm reading Danny Proulx's book on 32mm cabinetmaking and had expected some mention of allowing for under cabinet lighting, but there wasn't any.  In the kitchen where I work which has frameless cabinets I noticed that the wall cabinets have an extra narrow front piece on the bottom which could hide under cabinet lighting and the doors are sized to cover that front panel so when they are closed all you see are the doors.  From this I would assume that the extra piece is exactly 32mm wide (I haven't brought my rule in to measure them) so the doors that cover them are still a multiple of 32mm.  Is this how it's typically done?  Does this mean that cabinets built this way have a little less interior height than normal, or are the cabinets extended from the standard by the extra amount (the extra piece on the bottom isn't really considered part of the cabinet height)?

 

[buckmaidt]

A piece of decorative moulding attached across the bottoms of the uppers works well to hide the lighting.

 

[Jonhilgen]

A piece of decorative moulding attached across the bottoms of the uppers works well to hide the lighting.

What he said.

Jon

 

[peter halle]

My pet peeve about molding or other ways of hiding undercabinet lighting is that when attempting to hide them, too often the designers only pay attention to what is needed to hide if someone is standing up and forget that people sitting on a bar stool or a kitchen table close by will see the light source.

ARGHHHHHHH.

Peter

 

[Jonhilgen]

My pet peeve about molding or other ways of hiding undercabinet lighting is that when attempting to hide them, too often the designers only pay attention to what is needed to hide if someone is standing up and forget that people sitting on a bar stool or a kitchen table close by will see the light source.

ARGHHHHHHH.

Peter

Agreed!  I hate it too, which is why I typically hide it as much as possible with a 1/4" "skins" (painted 1/4 plywood that is cut to fit)

Then there's this:  darn cheapo udder cabinet lighting that we try to hide...

 

[Guilliaume woodworks]

It kinda depends on style of lighting...with l.e.d. tape lighting we just run dado entire length of bottom of uppers,also with  dado that returns to wall where connection needs to be made. Electrician cuts tape to length and sticks  it up inside dado. Transformer is hard wired in lowers with low voltage lines to uppers with tiny connection to l.e.d. tape.    Side note...we been using thin extruded aluminum tape light housing with angle to direct lighting , instead of shining straight down and reflecting off counter top.  Seems like every job is different depending on cabinet design & type of lights.  Hope that made any sense at all

 

[RC]

Here in Europe its typical to have a front and side cover boards of abt. 5cm height that is visible under the door i.e. Door covers uppers frame, but not the light board. Low profile lights or LED strips are installed directly behind the cover board to minimize light source visibility to sitting/crouching people. With LED strips the back side of the cover board is sometimes cut at an angle to angle the light towards the centre of the tabletop.

The coverboard is usually screwed in with 90 degree metal brackets to the bottom of the upper cabinet.

 

[tjbnwi]

As suggested, a simple light valance. I've also done it where the bottom of the cabinet is raised, with the door closed there is only the typical projecting below the door edge. Put the lighting on the cabinet, not the wall.

Photos 10 and 11 show it the best;
https://picasaweb.google.com/tbadernwi/JoeKitchen#

Tom