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Published August 10, 2026. Updated September 1, 2026.
For most kitchens, GE’s Enbrighten Premium 24″ LED Under-Cabinet Light Bar (model 26936) is the pick: 1,165 lumens from one fixture, a warranty backed by an active company, and a design that starts as a plug-in and converts to hardwired later. If you can’t run any wiring at all, Home Depot’s own Commercial Electric rechargeable puck light ($19.98) skips the outlet question entirely. Skip the Hyperikon touch-dimmable bar you’ll see in a lot of these roundups — the company that made it closed in 2020, and nobody stands behind what’s still on the shelf.
I’ve re-lit enough kitchen counters over the years — my own and a couple of friends’ — to know the two regrets that come up aren’t usually about brightness. They’re about wiring you can’t see once the cabinet’s back on, and buying from a company that isn’t around anymore by the time a driver or a dimmer fails. Under-cabinet lighting is a small purchase that outlives most people’s memory of who made it, which is exactly the kind of thing worth checking before you buy rather than after.
Which One Fits Your Kitchen
- Best overall: GE Enbrighten Premium 24″ Bar (26936) — brightest single fixture here, converts from plug-in to hardwired, real warranty behind it.
- Best budget / no wiring: Commercial Electric Rechargeable Puck (2-Pack) — $19.98, charges up, no outlet or electrician needed.
- Best color accuracy: Torchstar 12″ Bar, 3CCT (4-Pack) — CRI90 and three switchable color temperatures per bar.
- Best for one long, uninterrupted run: Xunata 16.4 ft Strip — cuttable to length, no seams between fixtures.
- Best hands-free: Sensky Motion-Sensor Strip — turns on when you reach for the cabinet, no switch to find.
- Best for a single dark spot: BAZZ Puck Light (3-Pack) — aimed light over a sink or one short run, linkable if you need more.
- Skip: Hyperikon’s touch-dimmable bar — the company folded in 2020. See below.
Who Backs the Warranty
Under-cabinet lights get forgotten the moment the cabinet goes back up. Nobody thinks about who made theirs until one strip goes dark, so I checked whether each maker in this category is still an operating company and what its warranty actually promises, not just what the listing claims.
The one that stood out: Hyperikon, whose 20-inch touch-dimmable bar shows up constantly in under-cabinet lighting roundups, is not a company anymore. The Better Business Bureau’s file on Hyperikon reads “believed to be out of business,” and its San Diego storefront is listed on Yelp as closed. Coverage of the shutdown traces it to around 2020 — the company’s own site went offline and its social accounts went quiet that year. What’s still for sale under the Hyperikon name — on Amazon, through resellers like undercabinetlightingshop.com, on eBay — is leftover inventory. There’s no warranty claim to file, no replacement part to request, and nobody to call if a unit fails or a fire-safety question ever came up. Home Depot and Lowe’s, which stock every other brand in this roundup, don’t carry it at all — which is consistent with a maker that no longer exists to supply them. This guide isn’t recommending it.
The other six are backed by active companies, though “active” doesn’t always mean the same warranty:
| Product | Maker | Currently Sold By | Warranty |
|---|---|---|---|
| GE Enbrighten 24″ Bar (26936) | Jasco Products (GE-licensed brand) | Home Depot, Lowe’s, Walmart | 1-year or 3-year limited depending on the fixture line, per Jasco’s published warranty documents |
| Torchstar 12″ Bar, 3CCT | Torchstar | Torchstar’s own store, Amazon, Walmart | 12-month minimum blanket policy; this bar’s own product page lists 3 years specifically |
| BAZZ Puck Light (U16003WD) | BAZZ Inc. | Home Depot, Lowe’s, Wayfair, Réno-Dépôt | 1-year standard, per BAZZ’s own FAQ (recessed fixtures get 3 years; this puck line isn’t called out separately) |
| Commercial Electric Puck (23212KIT-WH) | Home Depot house brand | Home Depot only | 90-day return window; no separate multi-year term published for this kit |
| Xunata 16.4 ft Strip | Xunata | Amazon marketplace only | No dedicated warranty page found; Amazon’s standard return window is what actually applies |
| Sensky Motion-Sensor Strip | Sensky | Amazon marketplace, eBay | No dedicated warranty page found; Amazon’s standard return window is what actually applies |
Jasco (GE Enbrighten) and BAZZ are the only two with a warranty document you can actually pull up and read before buying. Torchstar backs its claim on the product page itself, which is one step better than a blanket policy buried in a separate terms page. Commercial Electric is Home Depot’s own brand, so “warranty” mostly means “Home Depot’s return counter,” which is fine as far as it goes but isn’t a multi-year promise. Xunata and Sensky are the honest gap here: neither publishes a warranty page I could find, and for a rechargeable strip that lives on a battery you can’t replace yourself, that’s worth knowing going in.
What Matters Before You Buy
Four things decide whether a kit is worth the money: how bright it is, what color the light looks like, whether it dims, and how it gets power.
Lumens. This is total light output, not wattage — a modern LED puts out far more light per watt than the incandescent or halogen pucks it replaced. According to the U.S. Department of Energy, an LED producing about 800 lumens (roughly the output of an old 60-watt incandescent) draws only around 6 to 10.5 watts to do it.
Color temperature. Measured in Kelvin, this is whether the light reads warm (2700–3000K), neutral (3500–4000K), or daylight (5000K+). Warmer tones tend to suit wood cabinetry; cooler tones suit white or glass. Torchstar’s 3CCT bars let you flip a switch and try all three before committing.
Dimmability. Not every “dimmable” fixture dims the same way. Some have a real touch or rotary dial, some are limited to a hi/low/off toggle, and some only dim when paired with a compatible wall dimmer sold separately. Check which kind you’re actually getting.
Install type, and a wrinkle worth knowing. Hardwired fixtures tie into a junction box, usually behind the cabinet, and look cleanest but often want an electrician. Plug-in bars and strips run to an outlet, generally hidden inside the cabinet, and are the DIY-friendly option. Rechargeable pucks and strips need neither, which matters most for renters. The wrinkle: electrical-code summaries describe the 2023 National Electrical Code as having dropped the older language that limited kitchen GFCI protection to receptacles serving the countertop directly, expanding the requirement to kitchen receptacles more broadly — which would include an outlet tucked inside a cabinet, not just one at counter height. Code adoption varies by state and often lags the national edition by a few years, so this isn’t automatically true everywhere yet. If you’re having an outlet added specifically to power one of these, that’s a question for whoever pulls the permit, not something printed on the box.
The Light Bars
GE Enbrighten 24″ Premium Light Bar (26936)
Install: Plug-in, convertible to hardwired | Output: 1,165 lumens, 3000K | Dimming: High/Low/Off | Price: $52.77 at Home Depot
This is the brightest single fixture in the lineup, and it’s one of the few that starts as a plug-in and can be converted to hardwired later with an included junction-box kit, rather than forcing that decision at purchase. The steel housing links up to roughly 20 fixtures from one outlet, and Jasco’s published warranty runs 1 to 3 years depending on the specific fixture line.
Skip this if you want a smooth, continuous dim rather than two brightness steps, or you specifically want a color-temperature choice — this one is fixed at 3000K.
Torchstar 12″ Bar, 3CCT (4-Pack)
Install: Hardwired or plug-in | Output: 540 lm per bar, CRI90, 2700K/3000K/4000K selectable | Dimming: Continuous with a compatible dimmer | Price: roughly $45–$59 for the 4-pack depending on retailer and bundle
The per-bar color-temperature switch means you can test warm, neutral, or cool white without buying three different products, and CRI90 renders food color noticeably more accurately than the CRI70–80 you’ll find on cheaper strips. Torchstar’s own product page lists a 3-year warranty on this bar, ahead of the company’s 12-month blanket minimum for everything else it sells.
Skip this if you want one continuous run instead of four separate bars to position, or you don’t want to buy a separate wall dimmer to get the smooth dimming this bar is capable of.
The Puck Lights
BAZZ 3-Pack Puck Light (U16003WD)
Install: Plug-in, optional hardwire via junction box | Output: 108 lm per puck, 3000K | Dimming: None built in | Price: not independently confirmed this run; check current listing
BAZZ rates this puck for a 30,000-hour life and the kit links up to six total if you outgrow the three included. BAZZ is a real, currently-operating company with a published FAQ stating a 1-year standard warranty on most of its catalog.
Skip this if you want even coverage across a full run — pucks throw pools of light with dimmer gaps between them, not a wash.
Commercial Electric Rechargeable Puck Light (2-Pack, 23212KIT-WH)
Install: Battery-rechargeable, no outlet needed once charged | Output: not published by the maker | Dimming: None built in | Price: $19.98 at Home Depot
The cheapest, least-committal kit here: charge the two pucks, then stick them anywhere with adhesive or magnets and run cordless. As Home Depot’s own house brand, its backing is Home Depot’s 90-day return policy rather than a separate manufacturer warranty document, which is a fair trade at this price.
Skip this if you want a published lumens figure to compare against other kits — Home Depot’s listing doesn’t give one, and I couldn’t find it published anywhere else either.
The Strip Lights
Xunata 16.4 ft Dimmable LED Strip Kit
Install: Plug-in with included 12V supply and dimmer | Output: 1,020 SMD3014 LEDs across 16.4 ft, 3000–3500K | Water resistance: IP65 | Price: not independently confirmed this run; check current listing
At 16.4 feet in one cuttable run, this covers more linear footage from a single kit than anything else here, and the IP65 rating tolerates splash near a sink better than an unrated strip. Xunata sells only through Amazon’s marketplace, with no separate corporate site I could locate, and no dedicated warranty page — Amazon’s own return window is what actually backs this purchase.
Skip this if you want a manufacturer-published lumens figure to plan brightness around; Xunata states LED density, not total light output.
Sensky Motion-Sensor Rechargeable LED Strip
Install: Battery-rechargeable with PIR motion sensor | Output: not published | Color temp: warm (3000–3500K) or cool (6000–6500K) versions | Price: not independently confirmed this run; check current listing
This strip lights up when it senses motion nearby and times out on its own — built for a spot you don’t want to fumble for a switch, a dark corner cabinet as much as a counter. One thing worth flagging: Sensky currently sells this strip in several lengths, from about 3.3 feet up to 19.7 feet, in both warm and cool white. Confirm the exact length and color at checkout rather than assuming a single fixed product. Like Xunata, Sensky is an Amazon-marketplace brand with no dedicated warranty page found.
Skip this if foot traffic in an open kitchen is heavy enough that a motion sensor would trigger constantly, or you want a fixed length rather than several options to sort through.
How Much Light a Counter Needs
None of these six kits has been wired up and light-metered at this desk. What I can do instead is check the number each maker prints against a real professional target, rather than trust a marketing phrase like “super bright.”
The Illuminating Engineering Society’s residential guidance puts kitchen prep and cooking task areas at roughly 50 to 100 footcandles, and a second lighting-industry source citing the same IES guidance narrows that to 50–75 footcandles for kitchen work surfaces — the two overlap comfortably in the 50–75 range. A standard kitchen countertop runs about 25.5 inches deep. Multiply footcandles by that depth in feet (about 2.125 ft) and you get a rough target of 105 to 160 lumens per linear foot of counter for direct task lighting — not an exact physical model (it ignores beam spread and mounting height), but a defensible sanity check against a real standard instead of a guess.
| Product | Format | Coverage | Published Lumens | Meets the Target? |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| GE Enbrighten 26936 | Bar | 2 ft | 1,165 lm (about 580 lm/ft) | Yes, well above the 105–160 range |
| Torchstar 3CCT 4-Pack | Bar | 4 ft | 2,160 lm (540 lm/ft) | Yes, well above the range |
| BAZZ Puck (3-pack) | Puck | Spot, not linear | 324 lm total | N/A — pucks light a zone, not a run |
| Commercial Electric Puck | Puck | Spot, not linear | Not published | Unknown — no figure to check |
| Xunata Strip | Strip | 16.4 ft | Not published (LED count only) | Unknown — no figure to check |
| Sensky Strip | Strip | Varies, 3.3–19.7 ft | Not published | Unknown — no figure to check |
The two light bars clear the target with room to spare, which tracks — bars are built to be a room’s primary task light, not a supplement. The three kits with no published lumens figure aren’t necessarily dim; they’re simply unmeasurable against a standard before you own one, which is worth knowing going in rather than discovering after the fact. My full approach to picks and math like this is on the editorial standards page.
Prices are approximate, current as of publication, and change frequently — confirm the latest price with the retailer before buying.
Matching the Format to Your Layout
One long, uninterrupted run of upper cabinets: A cuttable strip like the Xunata avoids visible seams and matches the exact length in one piece.
Cabinets broken up by a window, hood, or gap: Individual bars (GE or Torchstar) make more sense — each section gets its own fixture instead of routing one long strip around obstacles.
A single dark corner or the zone over a sink: Pucks are built for this — one or two aimed at a specific work area rather than lighting a whole run you don’t need lit.
Renting, or not willing to drill or wire anything: The Commercial Electric puck or the Sensky strip skip the outlet and wiring question entirely, at the cost of a recharging routine.
Near a sink or anywhere splash reaches: Look for an IP-rated strip, like Xunata’s IP65, or a fixture rated for damp locations; an unrated strip degrades faster near moisture.
Related Reading
If you’re working through other small kitchen upgrades, see our guide to cutting boards across wood, bamboo, and plastic, our roundup of pantry organization containers for a small kitchen, and our picks for manual coffee grinders for pour-over coffee at home. For more kitchen upgrade picks, browse our full Home & Kitchen coverage.
