I have a hidden greenhouse in my kitchen. Yup. I grow herbs and lettuce and houseplants and all kinds of things in my kitchen all year long. But you can’t see the greenhouse, hence the secret part. My kitchen looks like a normal kitchen (relatively), but it has a magical ability to grow plants, which is impressive considering how little natural light it gets.
And for around $30ish bucks, you can have a secret greenhouse in your kitchen, too.
If you walk into my kitchen, you might be surprised by the thriving plants on my countertop, especially considering my kitchen isn’t all that bright. I have a south-eastern-facing window looking out onto a roofed patio and a north-western-facing window with a giant spruce blocking the sun in the afternoon.
So, my kitchen is pretty blah as far as light goes, even on the sunniest of days. It’s even worse when it rains.
Did I mention that I rent, which means there is only so much I can do to improve my living space?
I’ve spent the past year trying to come up with renter-friendly ways to make my kitchen more inviting and cook-friendly. (I’m pretty sure it was designed by someone who was 7’ tall and didn’t cook.) So, a couple of weeks ago, while picking out some Barrina T5 grow lights for the new grow setup in my basement, their customizable 12” long grow lights caught my eye.
I’ll bet you can see where this is going.
I did some measuring and head-scratching before ordering a set of four 12” grow lights, some adhesive cable clips and a smart plug.
Now, let me be quite clear. I already knew I was going to love these lights, mainly because I’ve been using Barrina grow lights to start my seedlings and give my houseplants a boost for the past three years. But I had no idea what a huge difference they would make overall in my little, dark kitchen.
The space is brighter and so much more cheery.
Because I put the lights on a smart plug, they turn on and off automatically every day. The lights blend in beneath my cabinets. My workspace is well-lit for cooking. And best of all, I can grow things right on my kitchen counter.
- Fresh herbs? They’re mere feet from the stove.
- Lettuce all year long? It’s right next to the parsley plant.
- Houseplants? I mean, you can never have too many, right?
- Cat grass for the cats? Absolutely not. I have a hard enough time as it is trying to keep them off the counters. (That’s in the basement on the grow station.)
Let me walk you through the benefits of using these grow lights for this kind of setup.
First and foremost, they’re Barrina grow lights.
As I mentioned, I’ve been using their lights for all of my gardening needs for three years. I chose them after spending way too much time and money on other LED grow lights and being frustrated with their light output. Barrina is the way to grow.
The price point.
This box of four 12” grow lights comes with two plugs and four connecting wires, so you can daisy chain them all together (you can connect up to 16 of these lights, by the way); all the hardware you need to install them (hang them, stick them or screw them in). And all for a little over $30. And because they’re LEDs, they aren’t going to cost me an arm and a leg to operate.
They’re highly configurable.
As you can see from this picture beneath my cabinets, I have two of the lights connected to form a long 24” light (the set comes with little connectors to make this possible), and two of the lights hung separately. The lights fit my weird-shaped cupboards perfectly.
Renter friendly!
This is especially important. I didn’t put a single nail or screw into my cupboards to hang these. They are all hung up with the sticky tabs provided in the kit. And it took me all of ten minutes to do.
They look like normal lights.
They blend in under my countertops. Because the light is directed straight down, I don’t have to worry about being blinded by super-bright LEDs when I’m sitting at eye level, having my coffee at the kitchen island in the morning. This is also important for my plants as they’re getting more light this way.
Color? You’ve got options.
The Barrina lights are full-spectrum, but you can choose what tone you want. They have a white light, pinkish or yellowish, if you prefer a warmer white. I opted for the pinkish, mainly because I wanted a bit more red/blue for my plants.
The Extras
As I’ve already mentioned, I also bought adhesive cable clips (these little buggers). I’m a big fan of cord management, and I knew that to connect all the lights, I would be looking at cords dangling beneath my cupboards. With these super-sticky cable clips, I was able to lift and attach the cords out of sight to the bottoms of my cupboards.
I also purchased a KASA mini smart plug. I have many of these around my house. I love ‘em! They’re especially handy at Christmas time for controlling all of my Christmas lights. I have a KASA smart power strip in my basement to control the grow lights and heating mats on my grow station. As far as smart plugs go, I highly recommend them.
By plugging my lights into the smart plug, I can set a schedule or control them from my phone. My plants get all the light they need, and I walk into a bright, cheery kitchen each morning without lifting a finger. Hoorah!
This is by far the biggest splurge for this setup. It’s entirely unnecessary. Each 12” light bar has its own dedicated power switch, or you can control them all with one main switch on the power cord.
Whether you want to grow herbs for cooking on your counter, brighten up a dim kitchen, or give yourself more light in your cooking workspace, consider installing these grow lights instead of traditional under-cabinet lights. It opens up a whole world of growing possibilities.
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