Under Cabinet Lighting Cost Calculator
Under Cabinet Lighting costs $445 to $675 for a typical 12 linear feet job in 2026, against a national benchmark of $550. Labor runs 2.5 crew hours at $43.61 an hour. Enter a ZIP code to apply that area's measured wages for this work and its regional price level.
What makes up the price
Cost by size
National averages, before any local adjustment. Computed from the same model as the calculator above, so the two always agree.
| How long a run | Linear feet | Typical | Range |
|---|---|---|---|
| 7 linear feet | 7 | $445 | $365 to $550 |
| 10 linear feet | 10 | $500 | $410 to $625 |
| 12 linear feet | 12 | $550 | $445 to $675 |
| 16 linear feet | 16 | $625 | $500 to $775 |
| 20 linear feet | 20 | $700 | $575 to $850 |
Longer runs are cheaper by the foot
This is the opposite of how people assume lighting prices work, and it is the single most useful thing on the page.
| Run | Total | Per foot |
|---|---|---|
| 8 feet | $465 | $58 |
| 12 feet | $550 | $46 |
| 20 feet | $700 | $35 |
| 24 feet | $775 | $32 |
The reason is that most of a short job is not the lighting. One driver powers the whole kitchen, one dimmer switches it, and one call-out gets the electrician through the door — and none of those three get bigger when the run does. All that scales is $5 a foot of tape and channel and about seven minutes a foot of labor.
So if you are lighting one stretch of counter and wondering whether to do the other side too: do it. The second run is close to materials cost.
Measure only the cabinets with a counter under them. The length over the refrigerator gets nothing and the stretch over the range hood is already lit, which is why most kitchens come out between 10 and 25 feet rather than at the full cabinet length.
Where the light goes, which no quote will mention
Ask for the tape or the fitting to be mounted at the front edge of the cabinet bottom, behind the face frame or light rail — not at the back against the wall.
It is the difference between a kitchen that looks right and one that does not, and it costs nothing to get correct on the day:
- At the front, the light falls on the counter where you are working and the fitting is hidden by the cabinet's own front lip from every normal viewing angle.
- At the back, you get a bright stripe up the backsplash, a dim counter, and — if the backsplash is glossy tile, marble or quartz — a perfect reflection of every diode in the strip.
That last point is why a good installer uses an aluminum channel with a frosted diffuser rather than sticking bare tape to the cabinet. The channel is in the price above. If a quote is cheaper than this one, ask whether it includes channel, because bare tape is the usual thing left out.
The dimmer and the driver are bought as a pair
Nearly every complaint about LED lighting — flicker, buzz, a bottom half of the dial where nothing happens, lights that drop out instead of fading — is a mismatched dimmer and driver rather than a fault in either.
Low-voltage tape runs on a driver that converts 120 volts to 12 or 24. Dimming it means dimming the driver, and that only works if the dimmer and driver are designed for each other. An ordinary incandescent dimmer on an electronic low-voltage driver will do all of the above.
Two things to ask:
- Is the driver dimmable, and which dimmer is being paired with it? A named, matched pair — the driver manufacturer publishes a compatibility list — is the answer you want. "It'll be fine" is not.
- Where is the driver going? It needs to be somewhere reachable. Inside the end cabinet or above a soffit is right; sealed inside a bulkhead or behind a fixed panel means a cabinet job the first time it fails, and a driver is the component most likely to.
While you are asking: 2700K to 3000K matches the warm light in most kitchens, and CRI 90 or better matters here more than anywhere else in the house, because this is the light you judge food under. Both are specification rather than cost.
Tape, pucks or bars
| 12 feet installed | What you get | |
|---|---|---|
| LED tape in channel | $550 | One unbroken line of light |
| Hardwired bars | $600 | Linked fittings, no driver to hide |
| Puck lights | $675 | Pools of light, scallops on the tile |
Tape is the default and deserves to be. It is the cheapest by the foot, it is the only one that gives a continuous wash, and it can be cut to each cabinet section exactly.
Bars are worth knowing about for one reason: they run at line voltage and link to each other, so there is no driver — nothing to buy, nothing to hide, nothing to fail in ten years. They cost more in materials and less in labor, which is why they land close to tape overall.
Pucks are the most expensive and the most dated. They throw visible scallops on the backsplash rather than an even line. Some people want exactly that, which is a reason to choose them; "they were cheapest" is not, because they are not.
What changes the price
| 12 feet | ||
|---|---|---|
| A switched feed already there | $470 | Rare — worth a look first |
| A switch has to be run | $550 | The usual case |
| A new circuit from the panel | $750 | Rarely necessary |
| Walls open mid-remodel | $485 | Cheapest it will ever be |
| Tiled backsplash | $625 | Nothing goes through it |
Two of those are worth expanding.
A new circuit is almost never needed. Twelve feet of LED draws around 40 watts, which is a third of an amp. A kitchen's 20 amp small-appliance circuits will not notice it. If a quote includes a new circuit, ask what it is for — the honest answers are a panel with no spare capacity or a genuinely overloaded counter circuit, and neither is the norm.
A tiled backsplash is the case that changes the work. Nothing is going through finished tile, so the feed goes up inside a cabinet, along behind the face frames and down again, and every cabinet on the route needs a hole bored somewhere you can see it. If the kitchen is being remodeled, get the wiring run while the drywall is open even if the lights go in a year later. That is the cheapest this job is ever going to be.
What you are paying for
Twelve feet of tape, switched and dimmable, at $550:
| Labor, about 2.5 hours | around $155 |
| Tape and aluminum channel, 12 ft | $60 |
| Dimmable driver | $48 |
| Dimmer, box and plate | $40 |
| The call-out | $45 |
| Overhead and margin | the balance |
The hour or so before any tape goes up is most of the labor: finding a feed, killing it, proving it dead, mounting the driver where it can be reached again, fitting the dimmer and testing the pair together across the whole dimming range. The per-foot part — channel, cuts, a jumper drilled through each cabinet partition — is the quick bit.
The honest case for doing it yourself
If there is a receptacle inside or above a cabinet, a plug-in LED tape kit is $40 to $90 and an afternoon with a tape measure and a pair of scissors. It is the same light. For a rental, a kitchen you are not keeping, or a budget that does not stretch, it is the right answer and this page is not going to pretend otherwise.
What the $550 buys instead:
- No visible cord coming out from under a cabinet and down to an outlet.
- A wall dimmer by the door rather than a switch you reach under a cabinet for, or a remote that gets lost.
- A driver matched to the dimmer, so it dims all the way down smoothly — which matters because under-cabinet light is mostly used as low light rather than full output.
- Everything hidden, including the driver.
Those are real, and for a kitchen you are staying in they are worth the difference. Just know what the difference is buying.
Questions worth asking
- Is there already a switched feed above the cabinets?
- Will the tape be mounted at the front edge, behind the light rail?
- Is aluminum channel with a diffuser included?
- Which dimmer and which driver — are they a matched pair from the maker's compatibility list?
- Where will the driver sit, and can it be got at again?
- What color temperature and CRI — 2700K to 3000K and CRI 90 or better?
- Is the feed coming off a counter circuit, and if a new circuit is quoted, why?
- How is the wire getting past the backsplash?
- Can the wiring be run now if the kitchen is mid-remodel?
- What happens if a section fails — is the tape replaceable in one length?
Common questions
How much does under-cabinet lighting cost?
About $550 for twelve linear feet of hardwired LED tape, switched and dimmable, which is roughly $46 a foot. The useful part is how that moves: eight feet costs $58 a foot and twenty-four costs $32, because one driver, one dimmer and one call-out cover the whole kitchen however long the run is. If you are lighting one stretch of counter and wondering about the other side, the second run is close to materials cost.
How much does under-cabinet lighting cost per linear foot?
Between about $32 and $58 a foot installed, depending almost entirely on how long the run is rather than on the quality of the light. Only $5 a foot of tape and channel and about seven minutes a foot of labor actually scale; the driver, the dimmer and the electrician's visit are the same for three feet as for thirty. Quoted per-foot figures elsewhere spread from $20 to $100 for exactly this reason — they are describing different lengths of kitchen.
Should under-cabinet lights go at the front or the back of the cabinet?
The front edge, behind the face frame or light rail. Mounted at the front the light falls on the counter where you are working and the cabinet's own lip hides the fitting. Mounted at the back you get a bright stripe up the backsplash, a dim counter, and a reflection of every individual diode if the backsplash is glossy tile, quartz or marble. It costs nothing to get right on the day and it is the difference between a kitchen that looks right and one that does not, so say it when booking.
Do under-cabinet LED strips need an aluminum channel?
They should have one. The channel holds a frosted diffuser that turns a row of diodes into a line of light, and without it you see the individual LEDs in anything reflective, including the backsplash and a polished counter. Channel with a diffuser runs about $2 a foot and is included in the figures here. If a quote comes in well under them, ask whether channel is in it — bare tape stuck to the underside of a cabinet is the usual omission.
Why do my LED under-cabinet lights flicker or buzz when dimmed?
Almost always a mismatched dimmer and driver rather than a fault in either. Low-voltage tape runs on a driver that converts 120 volts down to 12 or 24, dimming the tape means dimming the driver, and that only works where the two are designed for each other. An ordinary incandescent dimmer on an electronic low-voltage driver flickers, buzzes, does nothing over the bottom half of its travel or drops out instead of fading. Ask for a named matched pair from the driver maker's compatibility list.
Where does the driver for under-cabinet lighting go?
Somewhere reachable — inside an end cabinet, above a soffit, or in the cabinet over the refrigerator. It matters because the driver is the component most likely to fail, and one sealed inside a bulkhead or behind a fixed panel turns a $48 replacement into a cabinet job. Ask where it is going before the work starts rather than after, and have whoever installs it tell you, because nobody else will ever find it.
What color temperature should under-cabinet lighting be?
2700K to 3000K in most kitchens, which matches the warm light of the other fittings — a cooler strip under the cabinets reads as blue against them even when it looks neutral on its own. Specify CRI 90 or better as well. Color rendering matters more here than anywhere else in the house because this is the light you judge raw meat, herbs and the color of a sauce under, and it is a specification rather than a cost.
Tape, puck lights or light bars for under cabinets?
Tape in channel is the default: cheapest by the foot, and the only one that gives an unbroken wash of light. Hardwired bars cost slightly more installed, around $600 for twelve feet, and have one real advantage — they run at line voltage and link to each other, so there is no driver to buy, hide or replace. Pucks are the most expensive at about $675 and throw visible scallops on the backsplash rather than an even line. Choose pucks because you want that look, not because they sound cheaper.
Does under-cabinet lighting need its own circuit?
Almost never. Twelve feet of LED draws about 40 watts, which is a third of an amp, and a kitchen's 20 amp small-appliance circuits will not notice it. The normal job is to pick the feed up from a counter receptacle circuit and run a switch to a wall box. If a quote includes a new circuit from the panel, which adds roughly $200, ask what it is for — the honest answers are a full panel or a genuinely overloaded counter circuit.
Does a tiled backsplash make under-cabinet lighting more expensive?
Yes, by around 15%. Nothing is going through finished tile, so the feed has to go up inside a cabinet, along behind the face frames and down again, and every cabinet on the route needs a hole bored somewhere visible. The conclusion is a scheduling one: if the kitchen is being remodeled, have the wiring run while the drywall is open even if the lights themselves go in a year later. That is the cheapest this job will ever be, at about $485 for twelve feet.
Can I install under-cabinet lighting myself?
If there is a receptacle inside or above a cabinet, yes — a plug-in LED tape kit is $40 to $90 and an afternoon with a tape measure and scissors, and it is the same light. What hardwiring buys is no visible cord, a wall dimmer rather than a switch you reach under a cabinet for, a driver matched to that dimmer so it fades smoothly at the bottom of the range, and everything hidden including the driver. For a rental or a kitchen you are not keeping, the plug-in kit is the right answer.
How long does it take to install under-cabinet lighting?
About two and a half hours for twelve feet, and the split is informative: roughly an hour before any tape goes up — finding a feed, killing it, proving it dead, mounting the driver, fitting the dimmer and testing the pair across the whole dimming range — then about seven minutes a foot for channel, cuts and a jumper through each cabinet partition. That is why a longer run barely adds time and a second visit costs nearly as much as the first.
Where these numbers come from
Nothing here is copied from a contractor directory. Labor is priced from what the trades are actually paid, materials from published producer prices, and both are adjusted to your area using federal cost-of-living data.
- Electrical contractors, United States: $43.61/hour, August 2026 (BLS CES CES2023821003)
- LED tape and aluminum channel: $5.00 per linear foot (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)
- Dimmable low-voltage driver: $48.00 per driver (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)
- Dimmer, box and plate: $40.00 per dimmer (price recorded October 2026, not index-adjusted)