01:00 AM EST on Sunday, March 6, 2005

BY DANA COFFIELD
The Denver Post

I haven't trusted my fancy dual-fuel range since Thanksgiving of 1997, when it stranded me with 15 guests in the living room and a half-cooked turkey in the oven. The LCD display flashed "FC" for "Fault Code," but I knew what it really meant.

The GE food processor -- a three-legged affair handed down by my sister-in-law -- grudgingly grinds out things like hummus and occasionally a pie crust, and then punishes me with a splatter of black oil.

Ditto the Waring Solid State Blender of similar provenance. Don't challenge it beyond a few handfuls of basil, some garlic, pine nuts and olive oil.

These appliances are not displayed on my creamy marble countertops. They live deep in a lower cabinet -- behind a KitchenAid mixer and a cheap bamboo vegetable steamer because I am afraid of what they say about me:

Cheap.

Dirty.

Inept.

Things would be different if I owned a Jenn-Air Attrezzi blender, its smooth copper base snug against the chic art-glass pitcher of my choosing. Or maybe a bright red FrancisFrancis! X1 espresso machine with tiny porcelain cups warming on top. Or a sleek, stainless DCS gas range. Or a Porsche coffee maker. Or a 1,000-watt Viking mixer. Or maybe a Miele steam oven, or a Dualit Combi toaster, or any other bit of kitchen folderol that would telegraph the real message of me:

Sophisticated.

Savvy.

Capable.

AMERICANS SPENT about $23 billion on kitchen appliances last year, more than half on stoves and ovens. Dishwashers and refrigerators and small appliances, some bought as much for their looks as their function, accounted for the rest of the spending, market researcher Datamonitor reports.

New-home construction drives the market, but young, affluent families shopping for high-end refrigerators help keep the category growing.

They want the plain white box spiffed up to include a stainless-steel finish or glass doors and maybe a wine chiller, a cable-ready TV and a special chamber where tonight's dinner can be defrosted.

And as long as the quality is high, top-of-the market customers seem not to care how large the tab grows for outfitting the rest of the kitchen because owning the same toaster used by the queen of England says something about them, even if a crumb never falls into the crumb catcher.

"Those products make a statement of potential: If I want to be a gourmet chef, I have all the equipment and could do it," says Gary Uhl, director of design for the plumbing manufacturer American Standard. "But nine out of ten people who own them will order in or go out.

"The more money spent on a kitchen, the less likely anyone will cook in it. It becomes a showpiece."

DENVER KITCHEN and bath designer Barbara Barton is less cynical, however, and insists that high-end appliances aren't status symbols. Her clients typically are after more convenience, a certain aesthetic, or adding more fun to their kitchen experience.

"If we look at people in the convenience category, these are people who are in a place in their lives where they've got to have help," says Barton. "This is not about creating more clutter or adding more froufrou or work."

These folks want an appliance that cooks efficiently and cleans up easily.

"They may be people who have two kids, who are in the soccer-mom state, who say 'I am not going to do as my parents did. My time in this kitchen had better be easy,' " Barton says.

Denver architects Story Swett and Roberta Cation recently renovated the kitchen of their 1938 International-style home. Although they kept the kitchen's original layout and compact footprint, they dropped larger-scale appliances from Wolf and Sub-Zero into luna pearl granite countertops. Their small appliances are black and white with stainless trim.

"I have to admit, we bought a lot based on how aesthetics would work," Swett says of the range, ovens and refrigerator. "But they also work well."

SOME FOODIES are finding pleasure in the form of new cooking methods.

New appliances include ovens that combine convection, thermal and microwave heating elements to speed the process, and steam ovens that can be used to prepare everything from fresh vegetables to risotto. Then there are ranges that try to introduce the "French top" to the American kitchen.

Barton recently sold a Wolf cooktop with a French top -- that's a flat, cast-iron top with concentric circles. The heat at the center circle is 600 degrees; the temperature drops to 400 at the sides and 150 degrees at the front and back. "It's a new style of cooking, and people are embracing it," she says. "But they do so with the assumption that you have to have a quality appliance to get there."

NEW DOESN'T ALWAYS ring true, though.

Denver architect and developer Debra Toney has been testing a Miele steam oven in her own home, but she isn't sure she could sell it into a customer's kitchen.

"It's really beautiful, and it can do a lot of great things, but I really only use it to steam vegetables," she says. "The learning curve is a little tough, and I underuse it."

Toney, who designs homes priced at $1 million or more, says she gets more warranty calls about appliances than any other punch-list item. "The big hurdle is getting them to learn how to use these appliances. They're complicated."

Twice a month, Roth Concept Center holds cooking demos to show customers how their appliances work. "Who reads the use-and-care manuals? Anyone but an engineer?" says a joking Barton. "When we have dinner demonstrations, that is half the reason we have them."

THE PLACE WHERE innovation and necessity collide may have their challenging moments, but Daniel Lee, director of marketing for LG Electronics, says American consumers are beginning to expect their kitchen appliances to perform beyond basic chilling and heating functions.

"No way would we have thought of having a television in the refrigerator 10 or 15 years ago.

"We're not in the 'Jetsons' era yet, but we're definitely in the digital age, where we can enjoy technology and innovation in the everyday use of these products."

Since a Denver Best Buy began selling the LG refrigerator equipped with a cable-ready television in the door last summer, few units have sold, says appliance supervisor Joe Ross.

"People want it more for the prestige than anything, I would think," Ross says. "But I did have a lady in here who for sure didn't have a lot of money, and she just wanted it."

Jenn-Air last summer debuted its Attrezzi line of blenders and mixers. These are chic appliances that come in unusual finishes and offer a choice of pitchers and bowls in eight art-glass finishes.

Bree Senter-Lee, 23, pronounced the Attrezzis beautiful. "I think this might be one of those things that you couldn't live without, but don't know it until you have it," she said.

TRAVELING CHEF Stella Romero was drawn to them because of their copper bases, but admitted that most customers of the Attrezzi line probably would not use them because they can afford to eat out every night.

Jenn-Air marketing manager Kristi Lafrenz isn't bugged by the idea that the Attrezzi might go unused.

"Some people may buy them and think that it makes a personal statement, and maybe it becomes like a piece of art on the counter," she says. "But they may get inspired by looking at it. The blender is usually deep down in the cabinetry, behind the crockpot. If it's out on the counter, who knows what could go on?"