Under cabinet lights: $22.35
Being able to see while cooking: Priceless.
I confess, installing under cabinet lighting in the kitchen has been on the list for the entire year we’ve lived in this house. I was resistant mostly because I HATE how messy the cords and plugs look. Even if you “hide” the wires the plug has to descend to the outlet and just (to me) looks hackish.
I’m a bit of a neat freak, and I spend a lot of time in the kitchen. I’d rather not have light if it meant looking at cords. (Yes, this is me justifying the procrastination.)
Enter battery powered touch-activated under cabinet light strips. Oahhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhhh!
I found these lifesavers at Minnesota Home Outlet (MNHO). If you live in Minnesota and don’t know about this paradise, click that link. You’re welcome.
Full price these lights cost from $15-20. MNHO had 12″ ones for $7.99 and the 18″ ones for $3.99. The larger ones were less because they were missing the “mounting” hardware (screws and double sided sticky strips). No problem, MNHO had me covered there too.
So, $23.96 worth of lights and a $3.98 pack of velcro mounting later (minus 20%; I had a coupon), we had ourselves a cheap, easy to install, fully functional solution to dark counter space.
The only downside is the number of batteries required for the install: 28 total between the 4 light strips. Amazon.com saved the day here, we happen to buy and stock our batteries in bulk. However, they’re LED lights, so the batteries should last pretty long.
Fifteen minutes after getting them home and unpackaged (which actually took the bulk of the time), I was reveling in my “handiwork” and snapping brag photos of the solution.
Good, fast AND cheap may be an evasive triad, but I think I nailed it here.
