Commercial-style ranges are often the focal point of a high-end, gourmet kitchen. That can mean a panorama of stainless steel and sleek European styling. But it doesn't have to.

As with luxury cars and fine Swiss watches, top-performing cooking appliances can come in an oh-so pretty package. La Cornue's Chateau line of ranges is but one fabulous example.

Handcrafted in France and available in the U.S. through Purcell Murray, a California company, it's the Rolls-Royce of ranges. Each is meticulously built by hand to the customer's specifications (delivery takes between 12 and 14 weeks) from a choice of 26 enamel or metal finishes and 12 trims. It is delivered with an emblem engraved with your name.

But the beauty is more than skin deep. Range tops feature one 20,000 Btu burner, three 12,000 Btu burners and one 13,500 Btu burner. That means you can gently melt chocolate, while, at the same time, bringing water to a rolling boil in less than a minute. Each range also is equipped with an electric oven for baking and gas oven for roasting. True, you might have trouble squeezing a really large Thanksgiving turkey inside, but its unique hearth shape provides a natural convection that seals in juices and eliminates the need for basting or turning. Other options include an electric BBQ, gas lava rock grill and matching pot racks.

Prices start at $20,000 for a 29 1/2-inch Chateau 75 range and go up to more than $40,000 for the 710-pound, 70.9-inch Grand Palais, a range that's fancy enough for, well, a grand French palace but also lends itself to preparing everyday meals.

Another French-made range that's 100 percent customizable to the chef comes from Delaubrac. Reminiscent of your grandmere's cooker, it's built for the 21st century on a chassis system similar to those of commercial ovens. Delivery takes six weeks, but the ranges can be designed with any combination of standard burners, electric, vitro-ceramic, or induction plates. You also can add a rotisserie or deep-fryer, or even a teppan yaki grill plate. In addition, oven doors can be ordered with, or without, viewing windows. If you want a deep fryer, for instance, they'll put one in. The real enamel finish comes in 14 colors, with six metal trim finishes. Prices start at about $17,000.

"They're built to last centuries, not years," says Chris Plumm of Plumm Design, the U.S. distributor.

But hey, that's cheaper than the brass-and-enamel commercial European-style "range suites" made by Bonnet. They can easily cost six figures.

Less expensive but with much of the same old-fashioned good looks is La Cornue's La CornuFe line of ranges, offered by Williams-Sonoma for $8,600. Whereas the Chateau ranges are custom-built, these are factory-assembled and then finished by hand. Not that you'd notice. Outfitted with two French side-swing doors, the vintage-style range comes in five laquered finishes with chrome, copper or polished-brass accents. (You can also choose stainless steel.) A "white glove" delivery charge of $1,300 includes unpacking and placement. You're on your own for installation.

The Aga cooker, an English import popular with gourmet cooks, has long been a mainstay in high-end kitchens. Yet it requires learning a new way of cooking. Not so with its new Six-Four series ($9,200 and up; available in 14 colors). It combines six high-power gas burners, including a dual-flame 20,500 Btu burner, with four electric ovens: conventional, convection and simmering ovens, and a separate, state-of-the-art ceramic broiler.

Bertazzoni's Heritage series of ranges ($4,300 to $8,000) replicate the wood-burning stoves made popular throughout Italy at the beginning of the 1900s, only with today's technology and engineering. The super-sized 48-inch model is equipped with six burners with separately controlled flames and an electric griddle. It also includes two ovens, one with a gas broiler and another with a special low temperature setting for keeping dishes warm. Bertazzoni's Professional series of free-standing ranges ($2,149 to $6,499) are available in gas or dual fuel. All feature one-piece stainless steel work tops and finishes that are acid and temperature resistant.

BlueStar is another that marries high style with performance, versatility and durability. Its RNB series of freestanding ranges combine the precision of convection oven cooking with the searing power of infra-red broilers that heat up to 1,850 degrees. The cast iron porcelain-enameled ranges, which come in a rainbow of 190 colors, also have one of the most powerful burners on the market, a 22,000 Btu "Ultranova" burner, and the largest oven capacity available on a 36-inch range: big enough to hold an 18-by-26-inch commercial baking sheet. Depending on the configuration of the burners, prices start at about $3,800 for the 24-inch model to $14,775 for the 60-inch, plus the cost of the background.

If speed is your thing, TurboChef's 30-inch Speedcook oven ($7,895) is unbeatable. It can cook a 12-pound turkey in 42 minutes, and a rack of lamb in four minutes -- less than the time it takes for your kids to set the table. You can make two dozen chocolate chip cookies in six minutes rather than the traditional 23.

A library of recipes means you don't have to figure out cooking times or temperature. The TurboChef also expands a traditional oven's bake, broil and roast functions to include air-crisping (similar to frying), dehydrating and toasting. A favorites setting stores up to 9,000 of the users' most-used recipes, and a digital interface displays oven and meat-probe temperatures. It comes in seven power-coated enamel finishes, including an eye-popping bright orange, as well as stainless steel.

Jenn-Air's new V2 convection wall oven also takes much of the guesswork out of cooking, replacing the typical knobs and dials with the industry's first "touch anywhere" interactive LCD display. A vertical dual-fan convection system (fans rotate in opposite directions, balancing heat distribution) allows the oven to instantly heat to the correct temperature. That means dinner arrives on the table at least 15 minutes faster.

Full-color pictures on the 7-inch screen help you choose doneness levels and what type of pan to use. You also can program in favorite recipes. More bells and whistles: The oven automatically alerts cooks when 75 percent of the usual cooking time has elapsed, so they can check for doneness, and the oven adjusts for the type of pan you're cooking in. Prices start at about $1,900.

Doug Oster writes a blog, "Growing With Doug," exclusively at PG+, a members-only web site of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Our introduction to PG+ gives you all the details.