13 Best Under Cabinet Lights Under $50 (Plug-In or Battery, No Wiring)

The least you can spend on a real light bar that plugs into the wall. It's one 18-inch fixture at about $18, rated at 800 lumens in warm white.

It's slim enough to vanish behind the cabinet lip, and the screws come already attached to the bar, so mounting takes a few minutes. A 12-inch cable is in the box to link a second bar later, which is how you'd cover a longer counter without a second outlet. GE rates it at 50,000 hours. The catch: it screws in, so you'll have two tiny holes to fill when you move out. The daylight version gives 1,000 lumens if you like a cooler white.

No outlet near the counter? Five rechargeable bars and one remote solve that for about $36.

Each 10-inch light snaps onto a magnet plate, so you pull it off to charge over USB and click it back. The remote changes all five at once: brightness, three whites (3000K, 4500K and 6500K) and a timer, so you never climb up to fiddle with them one by one. In motion mode they come on when you walk in and off about 20 seconds later, and the 2400mAh battery lasts somewhere between two weeks and six, depending on how often you pass. Each light gives 120 lumens. That's a glow for the counter rather than full chopping light, which is true of every rechargeable on this list.

If your kitchen is dark even at noon, this is the bar for it: 1,561 lumens from one 24-inch fixture, the most of any single bar on this list.

You pick from five whites, from a warm 2700K up to 6500K daylight, and press and hold the button to dim. The light scores 92 on color rendering, which means tomatoes look red and herbs look green instead of gray. A 5-foot cord comes with it, and if you add more Enbrighten bars later, one press changes all of them together. It screws up, so plan for that. About $40, and there's an 18-inch version at about $35 for a shorter cabinet.

1,200 lumens for about $23. Count the light you get per dollar and only the six-bar kit at #6 comes close.

The Maxxima is a plain 24-inch bar in warm 3000K white, with an on/off switch on the fixture and a 5-foot cord you can detach. It's 1.25 inches tall, slim enough to hide behind most cabinet lips. Two screws hold it, spaced 16.7 inches apart. It doesn't dim, so if you want a soft glow late at night, look at the ASOKO at #1 instead. ETL listed, with a five-year warranty.

An L-shaped kitchen, or a long wall of cabinets? This kit gives you six 12-inch bars, six feet of light, from one plug.

Together they put out 1,920 lumens in warm 3000K, about 320 per foot. The dimmer comes in the box and goes from 10 to 100 percent, and the bars link with cables you can tuck into the clips provided. Adhesive pads are included, so there's no drilling unless you want it. One thing: the dimmer is its own, and the kit doesn't work with a wall dimmer. At about $6 a bar, it's the cheapest way here to light a whole kitchen.

The cheapest way to try cordless: two 10-inch rechargeable lights for about $16.

They're aluminum and plastic, with three whites (warm 3000K, a mixed 4500K and a cool 6000K) and five brightness levels. Four modes cover everything from a motion light that only wakes up in the dark to always on. On full brightness the 1800mAh battery runs about eight hours; in motion mode, one to six weeks. They charge over USB-C and hold on with magnets, and the box has adhesive iron plates for wood cabinets. Two lights cover a coffee corner or the stretch by the stove.

Hands covered in flour? Wave under this one and it turns on. Wave again and it's off.

It's a 16-inch plug-in bar, about $17, giving 420 lumens of neutral 4000K white with a color score above 90. Hold your hand under the sensor to dim it, and it remembers the level. The sensor only reacts within one to three inches, so it won't flick on every time you walk past, but you do need to wave close. At under an inch thick it sits nicely above a sink or a cutting board, the two spots where clean hands are rare.

Want cordless but find 10-inch lights a bit short? These three ASOKO bars are 12 inches each, the same length as the plug-in kit at #1.

Their 60 LEDs shine to the side and bounce off the cover, so you see an even strip of light instead of a row of dots. Brightness goes from 10 to 100 percent, one button cycles through three modes, and they charge over USB-C. Magnets hold them on metal, adhesive works everywhere else. For about $33, it's the tidiest-looking rechargeable set here.

The thing that wears you down with rechargeables is charging them one by one. This EZVALO set comes with a dock that charges three at a time over USB-C.

You get six lights, a remote that reaches 16 feet, and a timer you set from 15 minutes to two hours. The 2000mAh batteries last about 13 to 40 days in motion mode, or around 11 hours left on. Same three whites as the five-pack at #3, with a button on each light if you want to change just one. At about $46 it's the priciest pick here, and the right one for a kitchen plus a pantry and a closet.

Puck lights throw round pools of light instead of an even strip, which looks lovely on a tile backsplash or inside a glass-front cabinet.

These three 3-inch GE pucks plug in, so there are no batteries to swap, and they link to each other with the cables in the box. Five whites to pick from, soft to cool. They don't dim, though, and pucks light a counter less evenly than a bar. About $39 for the set. I'd use them for looks, and a bar like the GE at #2 where you actually chop.

Six puck lights, a remote and no wires at all, for about $23.

Each one takes three AA batteries (not included), which buy about 60 hours at full brightness, or a month and more at two hours a day. Rechargeable AAs make sense here. They do three whites plus 13 colors, dim from 100 to 10 percent, and have a timer. The rubber adhesive pads peel off clean, which is good news for a rental cabinet. A fun pick for open shelves or a coffee bar, in black or white.

The one detail no other pick here has: a wireless switch that sticks to the wall like a real light switch.

It works from up to 50 feet, so you can put it by the kitchen door. Two pucks at 40 lumens each make this a soft light for a pantry, a dark cabinet or the corner of a counter rather than for prep. They run on AA batteries and turn themselves off after 60 minutes, which saves you from finding them dead in the morning. Tape or screws, your choice, about $23.