Concealed LED strips are a great way to bring a kitchen to life. Rather than relying solely on overhead lighting, you add multiple layers of light: across your worktops, inside a cupboard or tucked beneath an island for a lovely evening glow. With the right positioning and detailing, the effect is beautiful and helps transition your kitchen from hardworking into a welcoming, relaxing, inviting space.
Concealed LED: notice the kitchen - not the light source.
But where should kitchen LED lighting go, and what do you call each position when speaking to your kitchen designer or electrician? This guide takes you through ten possibilities, from task lighting to those clever applications that elevate a kitchen into a something truly stunning.
You certainly don't need them all. The trick is choosing the layers that suit your kitchen and the way you live in it. Call me, Autumn Morrison, to work with you to find the best lighting options for your dream kitchen.
Concealed LED adds beautiful, functional and valuable layers of light to kitchens - hire Autumn Morrison, lighting expert, to help you decide the best options for your dream kitchen and make sure to get it right.
1. Under Cabinet Lighting
Under cabinet lighting sits beneath your wall units, bringing light down onto the worktop where you prepare food, make a cup of tea or reach for a recipe. It's a useful layer to plan alongside your ceiling lighting, rather than treating it as an afterthought.
Position matters more than you might expect. A strip towards the back can create a wash down the backsplash, while a position further forward may better serve the front of the worktop. The best choice depends on the cabinet detail, worktop finish and the effect you want.
Under cabinet lighting provides task lighting to your work surface as well as creating a lovely, relaxed atmosphere.
There are many different positions to consider when deciding where to fit your under cabinet LED strip, but the back is the most popular choice.
2. Above Cabinet Lighting
Above cabinet lighting is concealed on top of wall units and directed upwards. Instead of lighting the worktop, it brings another surface into the scheme: the ceiling. It's an option worth exploring if your kitchen feels a little flat in the evening and you want a gentle layer alongside the more practical lights.
The gap above the cupboards is important. You need room for the light to spread. Ceiling beams, uneven surfaces and changes in cabinet height will affect the result, so this isn't a detail I would specify without looking at the room.
Above cabinet lighting uplights - and therefore, lifts - ceilings.
Above cabinet lighting works especially well with a solid wall of kitchen units.
3. Baseboard Lighting
Often called plinth lighting in the UK, baseboard lighting sits at the bottom of the cabinetry and sends light onto the floor. It gives an island or a run of units a lovely floating effect, particularly when brighter kitchen lights are turned down in the evening.
Restraint is everything here. I would choose what you want to highlight rather than automatically outlining the entire room. Consider how it will reflect on your flooring. A bright, exposed line can feel very different from the soft pool of light you had in mind. Ask for this layer to be controlled separately from your other lighting so you can enjoy it on its own.
Baseboard lighting gives low-level navigational light.
Baseboard LED can fit under many pieces of kitchen furniture. Pick and choose wisely. If you overuse it, you may loose its elegance.
4. Shelf Lighting
Open shelves give a kitchen a sense of expansiveness, and lighting them brings them to life. Whether you display your favourite crockery, glassware, a few well-loved cookbooks or a beautiful plant, shelf lighting draws these objects into the evening atmosphere.
The LED aluminium profile, cable route and space for the lighting all needs to work with the joinery, not compete with it. Think about what will actually live on the shelf. A continuous line of light set to the back can quickly disappear behind a row of tall cookbooks, but make glassware look magical. The cookbooks would be better served if lit from the front of the shelf. Plan the light around real life, not just an empty shelf.
Lighting shelves elevates floating shelves beautifully.
Shelf lighting has many factors to consider. Work closely with your joinery, builder, electrician and lighting designer to get it right.
6. Under Island Lighting
Under island lighting sits underneath the edge of the worktop around the island - and in particular, the seating area. It's different from plinth lighting at floor level: this is a light you interact with - here, the light is more generous, filling what would otherwise be a dark recess with a welcoming, glare-free glow. It's a lovely option when the island is as much a gathering place as a preparation area.
Keep this as a separately controlled circuit, so you can benefit from the relaxing atmosphere it creates in the evening when you need less lighting. It's a fantastic way to add a layer of light at night without over-lighting the kitchen.
If you have a seating area at your kitchen island, it's a great idea to add a strip of light underneath for a lovely nighttime glow.
Under island lighting has the power to become the most beautiful nighttime lighting in the entire house.
7. Floating Worktop Lighting (Gola Profile)
In a handleless kitchen, the recessed channel used to open doors and drawers can become part of the lighting design. You may hear this described as Gola profile lighting or handleless rail lighting. Rather than adding a separate visible fitting, the idea is to integrate a fine line of light into the kitchen's own detailing.
This is something to discuss with your kitchen supplier early. Not every handleless channel is designed to take an LED strip, and the dimensions, profile and cable routes need to work together. The lighting should complement those clean cabinet lines without making the opening awkward or putting the source directly in view.
A thin line of LED that sits above handless kitchen drawers provides inwards lighting when the drawers are opened as well as accent lighting.
Most floating worktop lighting is lit from above, with a curved aluminium LED profile which is gentle on your fingers as you slip them into the groove to open the drawers.
7. Internal Cabinet Lighting
Internal cabinet lighting brings light directly into cupboards, coffee stations and pantry units. In a glazed cabinet, it can also become a decorative layer, making the contents part of the evening atmosphere.
Plan the position around the shelves and what you intend to store. A light at the top alone may not reach past solid shelves. Think about the controls at the same time: a door-operated sensor may suit a pantry, while a display cabinet would be nicer to illuminate as part of the overall lighting scheme.
Use vertical strips of LED inside your cabinets to illuminate the contents evenly.
If your cabinets/cupboards have doors, switch them on and off with a motion sensor.
8. Hob Lighting
Hob lighting needs to help you see what you're cooking, not just create a lovely effect. An integrated linear light can be worth discussing with your extractor or kitchen supplier if you prefer a continuous wash versus separate pools of light.
This isn't a place to fit a general-purpose LED strip simply because it fits the gap. Heat, steam, grease and cleaning all need to be considered, along with the hob and extractor manufacturers' requirements. Ask your supplier and electrician to confirm a suitable solution and its positioning. I would start with the equipment and its installation requirements, then develop the lighting detail around them.
LED strips are a newer way to light hob work tops, replacing traditional spot lights for shadow-free, even illumination.
This is a personal preference, and some people prefer the beams of light you get with small oven spot lights. But if you would like a continuous light across your hob and as well as your work surfaces, I recommend an LED strip.
9. Drawer Lighting
Drawer lighting is one of those small details you might not think about until you use it. Open the drawer and the contents become easy to find. It's worth considering during the kitchen design, when the fittings and wiring can be planned ahead of time.
Use a system intended for the drawer arrangement, with the power supply, switching and any moving components considered together. Your kitchen supplier should confirm compatibility with the runners and internal fittings. Treat it as a useful addition to your kitchen lighting, not a replacement for light on the worktop above.
LED is so slim and flexible, you can even add it to the tops of your drawers, putting the light exactly where you need it.
If you have LED lighting for the inside of your drawers, you don't have to worry about not having enough light above you.
10. Ceiling LED Lighting
Concealed ceiling LED lighting is often described as cove lighting or coffer lighting, depending on the detail. The strip is hidden within a recess or ledge. It can bring a soft layer to a kitchen and help connect the cooking area with an adjoining dining or living space.
The key is making the lighting feel part of the architecture. Decide which ceiling edge or change in level deserves emphasis, and check there is enough space for the light to spread without exposing the source. This needs coordinating before the ceiling detail is built, including access to drivers and a suitable control arrangement. Consider the colour of the light alongside your other kitchen fittings, too, so the different layers feel comfortable together.
Concealed LED in kitchens is a great way to combat different elevations on tricky ceilings.
Sometimes ceilings require different planes, and if you put a concealed LED within a small gap in those different planes, you turn something awkward into something remarkable.
