"tried it briefly and ended up feeling silly yelling at my ceiling every night. Regular switches are just simpler sometimes."
Haha, I hear you about the voice controls—I installed a few for clients who swore they'd use them daily, but most ended up back to regular switches within months. Under-cabinet lighting is definitely worth considering, though; it adds a warmer, more comfortable layer of illumination and reduces shadows on countertops. If you ever decide to retrofit, LED strip lights with diffusers are relatively easy and unobtrusive to install after the fact...just something to keep in mind.
Voice controls definitely aren't for everyone, but have you considered motion sensors instead? I swapped out a couple of my kitchen switches for occupancy sensors, and honestly, it's been pretty convenient. No yelling at ceilings required, haha. They turn on automatically when I walk in with groceries or messy hands, and shut off after a few minutes of no movement. Sure, they can be a bit finicky if you're sitting still too long, but overall they've been reliable.
Under-cabinet lighting is great too—I agree with that—but sometimes retrofitting LED strips can be trickier than it sounds, especially if your cabinets don't have a good lip to hide the diffuser. Did you run into any issues with shadows or uneven lighting when installing yours? I've seen some setups where the LEDs ended up looking spotty or harsh without proper diffusion...
Motion sensors are handy, sure, but honestly I find them more annoying than helpful in kitchens. Had a client who insisted on installing them everywhere, and within a month he was asking me to swap half of them back out. If you're cooking or prepping food and not moving around much, they tend to shut off at the worst possible moment. Nothing like waving your arms around covered in flour or raw chicken juice just to get the lights back on...
For under-cabinet lighting, I've found puck lights to be a better alternative to LED strips in some cases. They're easier to position strategically, and you can avoid that harsh, uneven look you're talking about. Diffusers help, but if your cabinets don't have the right lip or molding, it's tough to hide the strips properly. Pucks give you more flexibility—just space them evenly and angle them slightly toward the backsplash, and you'll get nice even lighting without shadows or glare.
I totally get what you're saying about motion sensors. We put one in our pantry thinking it'd be super convenient, but it turned into a mini disco every time I tried to find the paprika. 😂 Eventually, I just taped over it and went back to a good ol' fashioned switch.
For under-cabinet lighting, puck lights sound interesting—I hadn't thought of angling them toward the backsplash like that. We went with LED strips because they were budget-friendly at the time, but honestly, hiding them was a pain. My husband rigged up some DIY diffusers out of frosted plastic from an old storage bin (creative, right?), which helped soften things up a bit. Still, if I had to do it again, I'd probably give pucks a try. Seems like they'd save me from another weekend spent wrestling with double-sided tape and plastic scraps...
We went with puck lights under our cabinets too, but honestly, they weren't as easy as I expected. Our house is pretty old, so nothing's level or straight, and getting the wiring hidden neatly was a bit of a headache. Ended up drilling tiny holes through the cabinets to run wires discreetly. It looks great now, but if I had to redo it, I'd probably research wireless options more thoroughly—might've saved me some frustration and a few extra holes in my vintage cabinetry...
