IKEA has some nifty under-cabinet lighting options and there’s a little space behind the cabinets that you can run the lighting cables through. Unfortunately, it can be difficult to get around the mounting rail at the top. Here are a few ways to route the cables.
Around the end of the rail at the end of a cabinet run: Your rail can be up to 3/4″ short of the edge of the cabinet at the end of the run of cabinets. If you make sure your rail is just a little short you can sneak the cable around the end of the rail and cover it up with a cover panel.
Through a cutout in a cover panel between two cabinets: There are some cases where you will want to put a cover panel in between 2 cabinets. In this case, you have to notch the cover panel to fit it around the mounting rail. If you make that notch a little bigger than necessary (1” x 4” will do the trick), you can pass the cable from behind the cabinet into the cover panel notch and then up past the mounting rail.
Through the cabinet mounting hole: (This works best if you plan ahead and prep the cabinet before mounting it) You can get inside the cabinet through the hole where the mounting bracket connects to the rail. If you drill a small hole in the top of the cabinet you can route the cable up through there. If you get the hole back far enough the plastic cover will completely hide the cable and the hole. If you don’t manage to get the hole that far back, you can notch the little plastic cover to fit around the cable. A 5/16″ hole is a tight fit for the round end of the VAGDAL cable.
In the gaps at the end of a cabinet run (or between cabinets where a space is required) that is covered with a trim panel: This is probably the most obvious. Often (maybe always) the cabinets don’t go all the way to the wall and there is a gap at the end. You might also have a gap at an appliance or some other transition where the cabinet sizes don’t exactly fill the space. These gaps just get covered over with a matching panel with the space behind left empty. This is an easy place to run a cable. I don’t have a picture of this one, so you’ll have to use your imagination.
The end.