Putting a large selection of options in one location has been greeted enthusiastically by manufacturers, who show up regularly with new brochures and new product pitches.
It also provides a look at what is capturing the consumer's imagination and what isn't.
A case in point: appliances as furniture.
In the late 1990s, cabinet manufacturers said consumers wanted their kitchens to look more like a collection of expensive furniture, so they began offering such pieces.
In response, appliance manufacturers came up with wooden fronts for dishwashers and refrigerators, to hide them. Yet stainless-steel appliances continue to dominate the market.
Gone, too, are white cabinets in favor of natural woods such as maple and cherry. Slide-in ranges also are out, with buyers willing to go the wall-oven/cooktop route to avoid them.
Still, Whirlpool's Polara refrigerator-range, which is a slide-in, seems to be coming into its own two years after its introduction. It's a measure of consumers' fascination with high-tech, also reflected in their growing interest in programmable washers and dryers such as GE's Neptune and Whirlpool's Duet.
The Polara can be programmed to thaw a pan of lasagna, for example. At a preprogrammed time, the range will switch to baking mode, making sure the lasagna is ready when you come home from work.
The oven will stop baking at a preprogrammed time, too. If you get held up in traffic, it will kick into warming mode for an hour. If you get home late and decide to forgo the lasagna, the range will return to refrigeration for up to 24 hours.
Whirlpool's Personal Valet also is a hot button among consumers. Typically kept in the master-bedroom closet, it cleans and sanitizes clothing.
What is "not expected to be hot with the typical consumer is Whirlpool's Family Studio, which Joan McCloskey, recently retired building editor of Better Homes & Gardens, called "the newest status symbol."
Gopal Ahluwalia, staff vice president of the home builders' association's Research Economics Group, said that while surveys have shown that a separate laundry room is "must-have" for buyers of average-size houses and upscale houses, the multipurpose room hasn't yet had many takers.
The reasons: price and size. At $30,000, such a room isn't easily accommodated in even today's fixed mortgage rates, "and the space just isn't there, either," Kelley said.
The suggested retail price of the Polara refrigerator-range is about $1,900; Kelley said Orleans' price is about $1,400, and it's offered in a $2,100 package with a high-end microwave.
How an option is priced depends on the item and the going rate. Builders see what others are doing, consider the cost of overhead and supervision, then figure in a 10 percent profit.
If a subcontractor is involved _ say, for flooring and carpeting _ the subcontractor sets the price with the home buyer.
If the house is not a custom job, and the buyer wants something special, and the builder has to pull workers from other jobs to complete the task, the buyer could see a 40 percent markup.
Over time, options change.
Some become standard features as demand grows. Over the last several years, for example, buyers' preferences have raised ceiling heights to 9 feet from 8.
These higher ceilings have allowed builders to offer 42-inch cabinets as standard features in kitchens _ a change from the 36-inch-high cabinets standard in the 1980s and early 1990s.
Fireplaces can be a standard feature or an option, depending on the community. In some, a wood-burning fireplace will be standard, while a direct-vent gas fireplace is optional.
Some options don't seem to be catching on just yet _ like the self-cleaning toilet manufactured by Toto, which cleans and dries the user.
"One woman really thought it was a great idea because she thought the toilet cleaned itself," Kelley said.
"When we told her what the toilet actually did, she cringed and walked away."
