Install Hard Wired Under Cabinet Lighting

Under cabinet lighting is absolutely my favorite home upgrade. It can turn a kitchen riddled with shadows into a bright, glowing area highlight the backsplash and adding a high-end feel for cheap. In this project, I did everything for under $100, including LED lights.

A quick note before I get into it: I am an apprenticing electrician. I have helped wire houses from the ground up with my grandfather who has decades of experience. I NEVER recommend doing electrical work if you don't have that education. I've put this together for information only.

We started out planning the job. Looking at the existing outlets, we decided to run from the most accessible existing outlet, in this case the GFI. We wanted to make sure that the wiring was properly connected so that, if the GFI tripped, there would be no power going to the lights.
We pulled out the GFI, cut the nails holding the new work box to the stud, traced out the area for the 36 cu. in. old work box, and cut the drywall. I cut the drywall out before taking out the new workbox to make it a little easier.
Then we cut out the drywall in a large rectangle along the wall, just a bit higher than the top of the opening for the old workbox. We drilled holes in the center of the studs and then another hole where we wanted the wiring to connect to the light. I pulled the 12/2 wiring into the hole, through the studs, and out the hole for the box before cutting the wire. This is SUPER helpful as it ensures that you will have enough wire rather than having to measure it. In this case it doesn't seem that important but, when you are running wire from floor to ceiling and then around five recessed lights, it's a great practice to have.
We then drilled a hole under the cabinet directly above and pulled wire through that hole and into the hole.

1. We put the box in, secured it, and pulled the wire in. Then we took the load wire and connected it to the load ports of the GFI. Then it got a bit more complicated.
2. We connected the line ground to the GFI.
3. Spliced the hot line wire to a hot wire connected to the switch and to the original line, that connected to the receptacle on the other side of the stove.
4. We spliced all the non-load neutral wires together. (The neutral wires connected to the light and to the downstream receptacle.)
5. Spliced the two ground wires connected to the lights with another connected to the switch.

Then we closed it all up and wired the LED lights following the basic instructions and repaired the drywall. We'll cover the exposed wires when we do the backsplash.
More at Lily Buys Houses