IKEA Kitchen Lighting: Under-Cabinet, In-Drawer, and Smart Lighting Done Right

The Upgrade Everyone Wishes They Had Planned Earlier

Ask our clients a year after installation what they would add, and the most common answer is not a bigger island or fancier fronts - it is lighting. Under-cabinet task lighting transforms how a kitchen works at night, and IKEA's integrated lighting system is inexpensive and genuinely good. The catch: it is far easier to install during the kitchen build than after the backsplash goes in. Here is how to plan it right.

The IKEA Kitchen Lighting System

IKEA's current kitchen lighting family covers four layers:

• Under-cabinet task lighting (MITTLED) - slim LED strips or spotlights mounted under wall cabinets, lighting the countertop work zone. The core of any kitchen lighting plan.
• In-cabinet and glass-door lighting - spotlights inside glass-front cabinets for display lighting.
• In-drawer lighting (MITTLED drawer lights) - motion-activated strips that light up when a drawer opens. A small luxury that feels absurdly premium.
• Toe-kick and shelf accents - LED strips along plinths or open shelving for ambient evening light.

Everything runs on IKEA's low-voltage system: lights connect to a driver (transformer), controlled by a switch, a wireless remote, or IKEA's smart-home hub for app and voice control. Match wattage: each driver supports a maximum load, so count your strips before ordering.

Planning: Where the Wires Go

This is the part to get right before installation day:

1. Pick the driver location - drivers hide inside a wall cabinet or above the fridge enclosure. Every light strip needs a cable path back to it; cables tuck along cabinet tops and through drilled pass-throughs.
2. Plan the power source - the driver plugs into an outlet. The clean solution is an outlet inside a wall cabinet or above the wall cabinets, added during the electrical rough-in. The retrofit solution is a visible cord to a counter outlet - functional, but the cord shows.
3. Order with the kitchen - add lighting to the same IKEA order as the cabinets. Retrofit orders mean a second delivery and working around finished surfaces.
4. Sequence correctly - lights and cabling go in after wall cabinets hang but before the backsplash is tiled, so wiring hides behind trim and tile instead of running over it.

Do You Need an Electrician for IKEA Kitchen Lighting?

For the lighting itself, usually no - IKEA's system is plug-in low-voltage, designed for consumer installation, and mounting strips and routing cables is standard work for your kitchen installer. You need a licensed electrician when:

• You want a new outlet positioned for the driver (the clean install), which in NYC co-ops also touches building approval rules
• You want the lights on a wall switch instead of a remote
• You are hardwiring any fixture or adding a circuit

In new renovations we coordinate this during the same electrical visit that handles appliance circuits - it adds little cost when bundled. See our appliance guide for what else belongs in that visit.

Smart Control: Worth It?

IKEA's smart-home integration lets kitchen lighting dim, schedule, and respond to voice assistants. Our take after many installs: wireless dimming is worth it, deep automation is optional. A dimmer remote magnetized to the fridge covers 95 percent of real use. If your home already runs on a smart platform, IKEA's hub integrates the kitchen cleanly; if not, the kitchen alone is not the reason to start.

What does IKEA kitchen lighting cost?

Budget roughly $150 - $400 in IKEA parts for a typical kitchen: task strips under each wall-cabinet run, one or two drivers, and a remote. In-drawer lights add about $25 - $40 per drawer. Installation labor is modest when done during the kitchen build - typically one to three hours of work - and higher for retrofits where cable routing has to work around finished tile.

Can you add IKEA under-cabinet lighting to an existing kitchen?

Yes - the system retrofits under any IKEA wall cabinet, and the strips mount with screws or adhesive in minutes. The compromise is power: unless you open walls, the driver cord runs to the nearest counter outlet. Plan the driver position and cord path first, and the result still looks nearly built-in. For a fully hidden retrofit, an electrician can fish a cable to an in-cabinet outlet, usually without major wall damage.

Planning a kitchen now? Tell us you want lighting when you send your plan - we will mark driver placement and cable paths on the plan review, and your electrician quote will thank you.