We’ve installed very few upper cabinets in recent kitchen projects, so under-cabinet lighting hasn’t been part of our last few renovations. That said, we did add under-cabinet lighting in our laundry room back in 2014, and I recently found photos of the install that I never shared. The process is straightforward, making this an easy upgrade if you need more task lighting in a kitchen, laundry room, or any space with upper cabinets.
Our cabinets are Ikea, so we used their GRUNDTAL spotlights at the time. Those exact lights aren’t available anymore, but the current OMLOPP spotlight is a similar—and in some ways improved—option. The OMLOPPs are LED, lower profile, and include cord-management covers. According to the instructions, the new lights install almost the same way, so the basic steps below still apply.
Many people install one spotlight per cabinet, but we wanted the effect of a continuous strip of light rather than distinct individual spots. The GRUNDTALs came in packs of three, so we installed six total. Four or five would likely have achieved a similar result.
The first step is to remove the bulb section from each spotlight casing while leaving the wiring in place. This exposes the mounting holes you’ll use to secure the light to the underside of the cabinet. Measure and mark your placement before screwing anything in. We centered each spotlight front-to-back and spaced them equally from side to side—about 10 inches apart. We used 1/2″ screws so they wouldn’t poke through the inside of the cabinets. After mounting, the light housing snaps back into place.
After all the spotlights are secured, connect them to the transformer box. The transformer and the power cord are sold separately from the OMLOPP spotlights; this modular approach lets you choose the right number of transformers and cords for your layout. One transformer supports up to nine spotlights, and a power cord can serve up to ten transformers. Wiring the older set looked a bit involved in my photos, but the newer OMLOPP system is simpler—more like plugging in a phone charger.
Before tidying the cords, it’s smart to test the system. The transformer plugs into a regular outlet and usually has a switch on the cord, so you can energize everything without an electrician and confirm your connections work. We had ours up and running within minutes.
The OMLOPP lights include cord covers to hide cables along the cabinet bottom, but you’ll still need a plan for the excess wire between the cabinets and the transformer. I used a few cord-management products—mounting ties (zip ties with a screw hole) and small wire staples—to secure the wiring to the cabinet underside. Depending on the cabinet thickness, you may need to swap the included fasteners for shorter ones to avoid poking through.
My installation looked a bit messy before adding the cover, but most of the excess wire was bundled with a zip tie and screwed up tight to the cabinet bottom, with the remaining wires held down by staples. Once the cover strip is installed, none of that chaos is visible; you’d have to crouch under the cabinet to see it.
You’ll also need to find a spot to hide the transformer box. We mounted ours behind a filler gap on the side of a cabinet, which kept it out of sight while allowing the power cord to follow the corner down to the outlet. The transformer box has mounting holes so you can screw it in place.
A couple years after the installation, we had an electrician hardwire the power cord to a wall switch so the lights are even easier to use. Before that, the cord tucked into the corner was minimally intrusive.
Another common transformer location is on top of the cabinets—if you use that approach you may need an outlet up there. Ikea offers a remote that can control the system so you don’t have to access the power-cord switch.
The final step was installing a cover strip across the bottom of the cabinets to hide the lights and wiring. We used a spare Ikea filler piece, attached with small L-brackets and sealed with caulk at the seams. The flat bottoms of Ikea cabinets mean there isn’t a recessed area for lighting like some other cabinet styles, which is likely why the newer OMLOPP parts are slimmer and include cord covers to improve the finished look.
I don’t have the original receipts, but a similar setup using the updated system would be roughly $75, or about $90 if you include a remote. You could lower the cost to around $45 by installing just three lights with a smaller transformer.
Here’s a recent photo of the wall switch we added; it makes using the lights simple. We probably use them about half the time—our ceiling light is sufficient for this small room—but the under-cabinet lights remain a useful “nice to have” upgrade, especially where more focused task lighting is needed.
If you’ve been curious about adding under-cabinet lighting, this project shows it’s not a difficult or expensive job. Most beginners can complete this installation with basic tools and a bit of patience.
P.S. For a summary of our laundry room makeover and a full budget breakdown, see our project post. For a source list of paint colors and accessories, check our shop page.
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