Gourmet kitchen, Lean Cuisine cook

HIDDEN behind a downturn in the stock market, pain at the gas pump and historic home foreclosures, the high-end designer kitchen gleams on. The remodeling business may be off in parts of Southern California, and some consumers may be rethinking the need for $8,000 professional ranges, granite-topped islands and extra dishwashers, but in the words of Los Angeles interior designer Karen Haas: Clients still want "the best, the brightest, the latest."

By Sean Mitchell

June 19, 2008