Under-Cabinet Lighting Installation Costs UK — What to Charge in 2026

The Types of Under-Cabinet Lighting

The product you fit changes both your material cost and how long the job takes. Customers often arrive with a vague idea of "strip lights" and don't realise there are several options at different price points. Walking them through these helps you sell the better-margin solution rather than the cheapest one.

LED Strip / Tape

Flexible LED tape on a reel, cut to length and either stuck under the wall units or seated in an aluminium profile with a diffuser. It's the most versatile option and gives a continuous line of light with no visible dots when a good diffuser is used. Cheap tape stuck straight to the underside of a unit looks fine on day one but discolours and peels — fitting it into a profile is what separates a professional job from a DIY look, and it lets you charge accordingly.

Linkable LED Bars

Rigid pre-made bars (sometimes called striplights or batten lights) that link together with short leads and clip under each unit. They're quicker to fit than loose tape, look tidy, and avoid the soldering or connector fiddle of cut tape. A good middle option where the customer wants a clean result without the cost of profile-mounted tape.

Puck / Spot Lights

Small round recessed or surface-mounted spotlights that throw individual pools of light onto the worktop. They suit deeper units and customers who like a more focused, downlight look rather than a continuous wash. Recessed pucks need a hole cut in the underside of the unit base, which adds a little labour and means the carcass has to be thick enough to take them.

Plinth / Kickboard Lighting

LED tape or pucks set into the plinth (kickboard) at floor level, washing light across the floor for a floating-units effect. It's an upsell rather than task lighting — usually run from the same driver as the under-cabinet circuit or its own driver if the load is high. Because the plinth is removable, cable management here is a bit more forgiving, but you still want the driver and any joints accessible.

What the Job Actually Involves

The light fittings themselves are the easy part. Most of your time and most of the risk in the quote sits in getting power to them, hiding the cable, and giving the customer a switching arrangement they'll actually be happy with.

• Running the LED supply: getting low-voltage cable from the driver to each run of lighting, often through the backs and sides of units, behind the upstand or through small drilled holes in the carcass.
• Siting the driver / transformer: LED strip and bars run on a low-voltage driver. It needs to live somewhere ventilated and accessible for future failure — inside a wall unit, above the units, or in an adjacent cupboard. Burying a driver where it can't be reached is a recall waiting to happen.
• Switching options: a simple rocker switch, a PIR or hand-wave sensor so the lights come on when someone's at the worktop, dimmable control via a compatible driver, or smart/app control. The switching choice has a real bearing on both material cost and wiring time.
• The mains connection: the driver is fed from a fused connection unit (a fused spur) off the ring or lighting circuit, or in some retrofits from a switched plug into an existing socket. A new fused spur is the cleaner, permanent solution.
• Concealing cable and trunking: on a retrofit you're working around finished units, so cable either gets tucked along the underside lip, hidden in slim trunking, or chased in where a wall run is unavoidable. Concealed routes look better and cost more in labour.
• Coordinating with the kitchen install: on a new kitchen, the first-fix cabling goes in before the units are fixed and the worktop is on, which is far quicker and tidier than retrofitting. Working alongside the kitchen fitter at the right stage is worth real money in saved time.

Any new fused spur is notifiable electrical work under Part P of the Building Regulations and must be carried out by a competent electrician — typically someone registered with a scheme such as NICEIC or NAPIT who can self-certify. A kitchen fitter who isn't a qualified electrician should bring one in for the mains connection rather than wire a spur themselves.

Typical Price Bands with Worked Examples

The spread on under-cabinet lighting is wide because the lighting itself is cheap relative to the labour around it. The single biggest variable is whether there's already a usable power source nearby or whether you have to create one. Here are the three jobs you'll quote most often.

1. Simple Strip Retrofit on an Existing Supply

A short run of LED tape or a few linkable bars under the wall units, fed from an existing accessible supply — a nearby fused spur, an existing under-cabinet feed being replaced, or a switched plug into an existing socket inside a cupboard. Simple rocker or inline switching. Minimal cable to hide.

• Typical price: £120–£250
• Worked example: 3 metres of LED tape in profile across two unit runs, fed from an existing spur, inline switch — materials roughly £45–£70, around 2–3 hours on site. Quote £180.

2. Fuller Run with Driver, Dimming/Sensor Switching and a New Spur

Lighting across most of the wall units, a properly sited driver, dimmable or PIR/sensor switching, and a new fused spur installed and certified. More cable to route and conceal, and the mains work has to be done and signed off.

• Typical price: £250–£500+
• Worked example: 5–6 metres of tape in profile, quality driver, dimmable module, new fused spur from the ring, concealed cable runs — materials roughly £90–£160, most of a day on site including testing and certification. Quote £380–£450.

3. Full Under-Cabinet Plus Plinth Lighting in a New Kitchen

Under-cabinet lighting across the whole kitchen plus a plinth/kickboard run, first-fixed during the kitchen installation. Often two zones (under-cabinet and plinth) on separate switching, one or two drivers, and full coordination with the kitchen fit.

• Typical price: £450–£900+
• Worked example: under-cabinet tape in profile plus a plinth run, two drivers, separate dimmable switching for each zone, first-fixed and second-fixed alongside the kitchen install — materials £180–£300, spread across first-fix and second-fix visits. Quote £600–£800 depending on kitchen size.

The Materials vs Labour Split

On most under-cabinet jobs the materials are a small share of the total — labour, and the skill of hiding everything neatly, is what the customer is paying for. Knowing where the money sits stops you from being talked down on price by a customer who has seen LED tape on a discount website for a few pounds a metre.

• LED strip / bars: £6–£20 per metre for decent tape; £15–£40 per linkable bar.
• Aluminium profile + diffuser: £5–£12 per metre — the bit that makes the job look professional.
• Driver / transformer: £15–£60 depending on wattage and whether it's dimmable.
• Switch / sensor: £8–£40 for a PIR or hand-wave sensor; a few pounds for a basic rocker.
• Fused spur and sundries: £10–£25 in materials, but the labour and certification carry the cost.
• Labour: usually 50–75% of the total job value on a retrofit. Charge your normal day or half-day rate — under-cabinet work is finicky and slow, not quick.

What Affects the Price

Two kitchens with the same number of units can quote very differently. Before you commit a number, run through what actually drives the labour on this particular job.

• Length of the runs: more metres of tape and more separate unit sections each mean more cutting, more connectors and more cable to hide.
• Number of drivers: long runs or separate zones (under-cabinet plus plinth) may need more than one driver, each needing a home and a feed.
• Surface vs concealed cabling: surface trunking is quick; fully concealed routes through carcasses and walls take far longer and look far better.
• Plaster and making good: if a wall has to be chased for a spur or a cable, factor in filling, and remember the customer expects it left ready to decorate, not patched roughly.
• Kitchen fit vs retrofit: first-fixing during a new kitchen install is dramatically faster than threading cable around finished, fitted units. Price the retrofit higher.
• Switching complexity: a basic rocker is minutes; sensors, dimming and smart control add fittings, configuration and testing time.

Quick Reference: Under-Cabinet Lighting Prices UK 2026

How to Quote It

The way to protect your margin on under-cabinet lighting is to quote the parts of the job separately so the customer sees what they're paying for and can't mentally reduce the whole thing to "a bit of tape." Break the quote into lighting and accessories, switching, the mains connection, and labour.

• Survey first: confirm where power will come from before you price. Hunting for a usable supply on the day is the single biggest cause of jobs running over.
• Specify the product: name the tape, profile and driver in the quote. It stops the customer comparing your number against the cheapest tape online and justifies the price.
• Flag the spur clearly: if a new fused spur is needed, list it as its own line, note that it's notifiable electrical work, and include the certification in the price.
• Separate retrofit from new-build pricing: if the customer is mid-kitchen-fit, offer a keener price for first-fixing now versus retrofitting later — and make sure they understand the difference.
• Allow for testing and making good: include time to test, set dimming levels, and leave any plaster ready to decorate. Customers remember a tidy finish.

Quote it properly and under-cabinet lighting is a high-satisfaction, good-margin job that leads to referrals — it's the kind of visible upgrade customers show off and recommend. Underquote it and you'll spend a frustrating day discovering why the "quick" job was anything but.

FAQ

Is under-cabinet lighting notifiable electrical work?

The low-voltage lighting itself generally isn't, but adding a new fused spur or other new mains circuitry in a kitchen is notifiable under Part P and must be done by a competent electrician who can certify it — or notified to building control. If you're only connecting into an existing accessible supply, the notifiable element may not apply, but the mains work should still be done by someone qualified.

Can a kitchen fitter install it, or does it need an electrician?

A kitchen fitter can route and fix the lighting and the low-voltage cabling, but the mains connection — especially a new fused spur — should be made by a qualified electrician. The common arrangement is the fitter does the first-fix and an electrician makes the final mains connection and certifies it.

Why is the price range so wide?

Because the lighting is cheap and the labour isn't. Whether there's an existing power source, how much cable has to be concealed, the switching chosen, and whether it's a retrofit or a new kitchen fit can double or triple the labour for the same length of lighting.

Should I offer dimming and sensors as standard?

Offer them as a priced option rather than baking them in. Many customers happily pay extra for a PIR sensor that switches the worktop light on automatically or a dimmable driver — but quoting it separately lets them choose and protects you if they want the cheapest version.

How long does an LED strip job take?

A simple retrofit on an existing supply is often 2–3 hours. A fuller run with a new spur, concealed cabling and sensor switching is most of a day. A full under-cabinet plus plinth job in a new kitchen spreads across first-fix and second-fix visits.