Most people buy LED strips thinking the lighting part is the only decision, then stick them under a shelf on the coolest, bluest white the pack offers and wonder why the room suddenly feels like a dentist's office instead of the warm glow they pictured. The color temperature is the whole game. Warm white reads like candlelight against wood or brick. Cool white reads like a hospital corridor. Same strip, completely different room.
What separates a good one from a sad one comes down to a few things you can't always see on the box. Density matters, how many diodes per foot, because a sparse strip gives you dark little gaps between bright dots instead of one even wash of light. The adhesive backing matters too, a cheap one peels off the back of a cabinet within a month and you end up gluing it back up there yourself, swearing the whole time. And dimming matters. A strip that only does full blast or off is not mood lighting, it's a light switch with extra steps. Look for ones with a real dimmer or app control, not just a remote with twelve buttons that all seem to do the same thing.
If you've never owned any, start small and useful before you start dramatic. Under a kitchen cabinet or behind a television is the easiest first try, because you'll feel the difference immediately and it's forgiving if the placement isn't perfect. Behind a bed frame or along a bookshelf is the next step up, once you've got a feel for how much light you actually want bouncing off the wall.
The day it arrives, check the length is actually what you need before you start sticking it anywhere, because strips are usually sold by the foot and it is incredibly easy to order short. Check the plug type and whether it needs a separate power box, since some of the longer runs do and that box has to live somewhere, not just dangle off the back of your television stand. And test the color before committing to the adhesive, because once it's stuck down, moving it takes half the glue with it.
In an ordinary room, warm LED light works beautifully against wood tones, terracotta, deep green walls, anything with a bit of richness to it. It makes color glow instead of looking washed out. What it won't do is replace a real lamp or ceiling light for actually reading or cooking by. It's atmosphere, not illumination, and expecting more from it than that is where people get disappointed.