How To Install Philips Hue Light Strips Under Cabinets
Lights strips are a great feature of the Hue system and can add lot to many areas, one great area for these is the kitchen. Running these along the plinth at the bottom of the units, under cabinets or along the top can create stunning effects.
Installing Light strips in the Kitchen
First thing is to decide where to put them, try them out in different areas and see how it looks, holding it up or temporally sticking it in place to see which place is best. Under cabinets work well, as well as along the top projecting onto the ceiling.
Once you have the place for the lightstrip you want to make sure it is long enough, and also any obstacles you may have. The Hue lights strips come in 2m lengths and have the controller which is needed, you can then add 1m extensions to this to the desired length, totalling 10m overall.
If there are areas where the lightstrip need to be run where it is not seen, perhaps going behind a fridge, or extending it to the top or bottom of the unit then you can use extensions cables instead of the lightstrip which is more expensive and won’t be seen.
Litcessory have produced a range of extension Ethernet cables to bridge the gap making it easier to continue the run without having to use Hue extension strips all the time.
Once you have the route and designed sorted you just need to make sure you can reach a plug for the controller so that it is powered. You may need to drill a small hole in your cabinets to run the cables through. Keeping the controlling in the cupboard or stuck to the underside is the best place for this.
Can you cut the Lightstrip?
You can cut the light strip to make it shorter but only on the scissor icons along the strip. Make sure the power is turned off to the light strip and cut along the scissor line, if you cut outside this, it will stop some of the LED’s working and damage the lightstrip. The section that is cut off cannot be easily reused without soldering.
This video below shows a clean and well designed installation.
When setting up light strips in the kitchen remember to think about where they are going, if you run them near the stove then they will get warm, and also suffer with steam and grease, this may effect their lifespan and certainly the overall effect as the strip becomes greasy in that area. You could install a diffuser over them or add some form of protection.
Before sticking the lightship in place make sure the surface is clean and dry, remove any dirt, dust or grease to ensure it sticks firmly in place.
Read Our guide to installing lightstrips behind the TV.
Founder & Editor
Mike is the founder of Hue Home Lighting, a huge Hue fan with far too many lights, covering home and garden. A smart home gadget addict and also enjoys the odd bit of DIY
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nicholas zwart
the led strip only lights up certain colors after I cut the strip on the contact line lke it shows
the litcessory connectors seem to have a bad connetion the strip is cut right down the middle of the cutting cpot so I know theres enough to make a contact, but only the white and blue light shows on the second strip I’ve suck about 300+$ into this and frankly am not to please with the experience I’ve had so far
is there something else i’m doing wrong.