Stand at your counter and look down. If your own shadow is falling across the board you are chopping on, your kitchen has a safety problem, not a decorating one.
Why overhead light cannot fix this
Ceiling lights sit behind you when you face the counter. Your body blocks them. Wall cabinets make it worse by hanging directly over the work surface. The only light that reaches the counter reliably is light mounted underneath the cabinets themselves.
LED strip or puck
Continuous LED strip gives the most even wash and avoids the scalloped pools that pucks leave on a glossy counter. Pucks are simpler to fit and work well on shorter runs or where cabinets are broken up. On a reflective stone or a high-gloss tile, mount the strip toward the front edge of the cabinet so the fitting is not staring back at you out of the backsplash.
Get the color temperature right
Somewhere in the neutral range reads as clean without going clinical. Too warm and white cabinets look yellow. Too cool and food looks grey, which nobody wants in the room where they cook.
Hardwire it during the remodel
Plug-in strips work, but the cable is always visible and the switch is never where you want it. If the kitchen is being remodeled, run the circuit and put it on its own switch while the walls are open. It costs very little at that stage and it is the upgrade clients notice every single day.
