New build: decide it while paper is still cheap
The cove or recess profile comes first: its depth, its return, and how far the source sits back from the visible lip. Set that against the channel and diffuser you intend to use. Recessed and trimless details are built into the substrate rather than added later, and the channels and profiles category shows what each style asks of the construction.
Then the chase route from every driver position to every run, with a spare draw cord where it gets buried. Driver locations follow, chosen for ventilation and access rather than site convenience, since a supply sealed in a plasterboard void becomes a maintenance problem later. Switch positions get agreed with the electrician at first fix. Last comes the product: for medium output cove work, one suitable option is the LEDClub 24V COB 300 Series, whose lumens per foot, watts per foot, cut interval and color temperature options are published on its page (confirm them before you rely on them). Capability is per product, so CRI and dimming support never carry across between items. Our article on planning an LED strip project covers the sequence.
Retrofit: read the room before you draw anything
Start with what exists. Where is there a void, a cornice, a cabinet reveal or a shadow line deep enough to hide tape? Where is the nearest receptacle? What is the wall made of, and what is its surface like after however many decorating cycles?
Those answers narrow the product before preference does. A shallow reveal rules out a deep channel. A textured wall makes adhesive unreliable and pushes you toward clips or a surface mounted profile. A cabinet with a solid back means the cable runs outside it, so the profile hides cable as well as tape. Accept early that a retrofit often ends up with more, shorter runs. Several short runs, each with a reachable supply, beat one long run needing a route nobody can build.
What stays the same in both cases
The electrical arithmetic does not care how old the building is. Voltage must agree at every connection, 24V tape to a 24V supply and 12V tape to a 12V supply. Take the published watts per foot, multiply by the length each supply feeds, and choose a unit whose rated output sits at least 20 percent clear of that total (verify the headroom figure currently advised and the unit's published output before ordering). Runs return in parallel, never one behind another; options sit in the power supply range.
Smooth dimming is never assumed from a product name. It is read out of the compatibility information for every part in the chain, the strip, the driver, any wall device and any low voltage controller, then confirmed by test before trim goes back on. A smart low voltage controller and a phase cut wall device stay on separate circuits unless both sets of instructions permit it.
Strips generate heat, and enclosed positions raise the stakes either way. An aluminum channel helps dissipate heat away from the tape and gives a cleaner edge; visible dotting is reduced rather than guaranteed away, with density, depth and diffuser each affecting the result, and using one is optional. Where a run lands in a bathroom, covered soffit or damp basement, name the required rating, IP65 or IP67 for instance, and confirm end seals, joints, the supply housing and the fixing method suit that position. Hardwired supplies, junction boxes, wall devices and new circuits call for a licensed electrician either way, following the manufacturer's documentation, the code enforced on site, and NEC where applicable.
