A Simple Method to Light Stone Countertop

A Simple Lighting Solution for a Stone Countertop

We moved last year and have been slowly rehabbing the new house. One of the projects involved replacing a tile countertop with something more modern. While looking for a remnant piece of stone to use, we ran across something interesting. I had not realized how translucent stone can be and how, when backlit, the crystal structures within the stone itself become visible. My wife, of course, knew all about it because she has much better taste and reads a lot about design. I, on the other hand, had access to a large number of LEDs.

So a slight modification to the counter project was made, marital deals were struck, and a new timeline was established. ( I only had two weeks from the time the stone was ordered.)

In this instructable, I will describe the original project and share some of our key learnings.

Stone or some other translucent material to be backlit

LEDs

1. WS2812
2. LED strips
3. LED panels
4. LED matrices

LED dimmer or controller

1. Dimmer switch and matched power supply
2. Matter LED Controller
3. ZigBee LED Controller
4. ESP32 LED Controller (WLED)

Home automation controller or smart switch management software

1. Home assistant
2. Apple Home

When choosing materials for backlit applications, we found several options.

Including:

1. quartzite
2. granite
3. Corian
4. resin ( for an epoxy river table (counter top))

The easiest way to judge how translucent a material will be is to take a flashlight with you when you are shopping for a remnant. ( By the way, a remnant is the stone left over from someone who has cut up a slab of stone for a countertop.)

The stone shops around us were very helpful in selecting stone that was suitable for the project. A number of them had several pieces that they were saving for a project like this, hidden away in a back corner somewhere.

After we demolished the existing tile counter, we were left with this structure.

Since we were not replacing the drawers, the lighting had to utilize the existing cabinetry boxes, which imposed our first constraint.

The height of the drawers gave the second constraint. The lighting could not interfere with the existing drawers.

We could see two ways to attach the LEDs to illuminate the stone.

1. Directly attach the lens of the LED packages to the bottom of the stone
2. Provide a gap between the bottom of the stone and the LEDs.

The first, depending on the stone, provides a stary effect. The LEDs were hotspots of light, and in the stone we were using, they created a dot-like effect. The second method of mounting the LEDs to a board suspended under the bottom of the stone provided a much more uniform light across the stone. It also allowed changing the LEDs after installation.

We went with the second method. If we were doing it again, I would have painted the underside of the woodwork white to help capture and reflect more light.

The trays were constructed by cutting panels to attach to the underside of the reinforcing braces in the existing cabinet boxes. We installed wood inserts for screws into the underside of the reinforcing braces and pre-drilled the holes in the trays to match. This made for easy mounting of the panels after the countertop was installed.

You need to carefully measure the diagonals of the drawers to ensure the panels fit through them. This will be your only access after the stone is installed.

We left a gap on each side of the panes to run the power and control to the LED panes. This also had the unintended side effect of lighting the inside of the cabinet boxes.

A lot of research and testing went into the final selection of the LEDs.

We tested the color temperature of white light, RGB LEDs in strips, matrices, and sheets. Addressable vs single color. A large number of LED controllers. That process deserves its own instructable. (Once I get around to writing it.)

For this project, we ultimately used 24V 6000K white LEDs on adhesive-backed sheets. (Link) Each panel was approximately 9.5 x 19.5 inches. The panels are cutable on row and column borders. The single-color panels have connectors and include interconnect cables. (This is not always true for the multi-color panels. )

The center box used 3 1/4 panels, and the two outside boxes used one each.

We had no problems with the adhesive backing attaching to the plywood panels.

We selected 6000 K lights for the stone we were using. The stone has a faint, brown, smoky cast to it, with lower color temperatures accentuating this effect. We selected a single color with a dimmable switch for ease of wiring and control.

The LED panes operate at 24 volts and are dimmable.

A 120W dimmable LED driver drives each group of panels.

The LED driver is attached to a Lutron Caseta dimmer switch.

We use Home Assistant to automate the dimmer switch.

This setup allows us to utilize the under-stone lights in several ways, including accent lighting and notifications.

This is the overall effect. The pictures are not the best at conveying the effects of the under-stone light. The effect in person is a much softer light, and the cabinet bracing is not as visible in person.

Examples of how the lights allow visibility into the stone.

We learned a great deal from this project, and it is far from complete. We have been prototyping side lights to mount against the edges of the existing cabinet box, which makes the visible lines disappear. ( As soon as we finalize a way to mount them)

We plan to apply the techniques we learn here to our next bathroom remodel, as well as a coffee table.

The key takeaways for us are:

1. Start the project a little earlier. We were lucky in that adding the LEDs was easy to fit into the schedule and was covered by existing schedule items.
2. We could have easily modified the tops of the existing cabinetry to make this project a lot easier. Installing the side light around the border would have been a simple project then.
3. We could have tested the whole remnant for clarity instead of just the corners.