These under-cabinet LED lights make for a cheap and renter-friendly kitchen upgrade

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• I wanted to give my kitchen a modern look without spending a lot, so I tried these LEDs from Amazon.
• At $24, they’re much cheaper than fully integrated kitchen lights or installing a smart light kit.
• They look great, can change colors, and are useful when I need more light while using the counters.

Puck LED Light (6-Pack) (small)

When I was apartment hunting last year, I narrowed my search down to two apartments that were a block away from each other. The first one was small, but it had a beautiful modern kitchen with a tile backsplash and adjustable lighting underneath the gray cabinets.

I went with the second apartment building because it was more spacious, had better amenities, and was still cheaper – but that kitchen, specifically the lighting, was something I couldn’t get out of my head.

As I was furnishing my new apartment, I thought it would be cool to recreate the look of lights under the cabinets while sticking to a tight budget. I knew that installing lights that I could control with a wall switch would be too involved for a rental apartment. Popular smart light kits like Philips cost hundreds of dollars, so I took a gamble on these $24 Cadrim LED puck lights on Amazon and it worked out perfectly.

Installing the lights was incredibly easy. Each light requires three AA batteries and comes with double-sided adhesive pads to stick underneath your cabinets. No wiring, no pairing to your smartphone and WiFi, and no drilling are required to install.

The lights look amazing at night when the kitchen is all cleaned, but they also come in handy when I need extra illumination while using the counter space. You can turn individual lights on by clicking them or you adjust all of the lights at once with the included remote.

I personally like the white lights best, but you can choose between a variety of colors as well.

My kitchen might not be as fancy as that chef-inspired kitchen I fell in love with, but for $24, I couldn’t be happier with the Cadrim LED puck lights.

Puck LED Light (6-Pack) (button)