An LED strip looks unassuming – a flexible tape with a row of diodes – yet it is one of the most versatile ways to bring light into a home: it lights a kitchen worktop, hides inside a suspended ceiling, outlines a bathroom mirror and illuminates a patio. The catch is that buying one means settling several things at once: voltage, brightness, colour, ingress protection and power-supply rating. Get it wrong and you end up with a strip that glows too weakly, dims out at the far end, or peels off a warm cabinet after a month. In this guide we walk through the entire choice and installation, step by step – so you buy once and buy right.
Przemysław Doliński