Lighting, Light Fixtures, Ceiling and Exhaust Fans - Under-cabinet lighting - Will this work?

The construction of my new home is rather tightly controlled by the builder (i.e. I can't bring in my own outside contractors). That means I'm at the builder's mercy on upgrades :eek: and, consequently, I'm trying to find creative ways to get things I want done after the home is built :cool: . My plan is to do much of this myself. One thing in particular is under-cabinet lighting in the kitchen. I have decided that I want to install puck lights (Xenon not halogen) because I like the spot-light effect. To accomplish this, I have asked the builder to install standard 110V outlets in each section of the upper cabinets all wired to a switch on the wall (located along with all the other light switches for the kitchen). My plan is to wire 3 Xenon 20W lights using a 60W transformer, mounting these under the cabinets (I'm lucky to have a generous lip surrounding the cabs). I'll then feed the wire through a small hole in the bottom of the cabinet and plug the transformers into the outlets. I also plan to install a low voltage dimmer at the switch to make these dimmable. From everything I've read, this should work, but I thought I'd try and get some outside opinions.

Any help is greatly appreciated. :)

Mark (hgrays)

That's pretty much how I did it twice now. Also by doing it that way you can change the type of lighting rather easily.

Jester

Thanks Jester...good point about changing the lighting.

Sorry, this will not be a Code compliant installation. Dimmers CANNOT control receptacle loads.

Well pcboss, you burst my bubble a little bit, but I appreciate the info. Do you have any ideas about how to approach this differently so they can be dimmable? Given, of course, that I'm starting with a wired outlet.

Thanks again for the help,

hgrays

I missed the dimmer portion of the post, I do most of my surfing in a somewhat sleepy state as I am doing a significant amount of remodeling/home improvement of late. I must agree with pcboss in principle, however the only thing being plugged into the outlets would be the lighting load. It is not likely that you would open the cabinet door to plug in a toaster or blender or something. If you do this you must make sure that are using a dimmable load. Please don't mistake for a pro as my background in electrical work started with a 2 years of a vocational class in high school, a summer working for an electrical service, a few years in maintenance in a refrigerated warehouse and jack of all trades master of none. Working for the electrical service was quite enlightening as I had been trained in what was right, ie code but when I questioned some actions I was told the distinction between what was code and what was unsafe. In other words, if you're having a party mixing margaritas in the kitchen don't let anyone plug the blender into the outlets in the cabinets.

Cheers!

Jester