Fully equipped kitchen center with colored cabinets is credited by Wake-Pratt for keeping sales running smoothly on their Detroit houses.

$14,840 house by Wake-Pratl is one of relatively few in Detroit area that offer the buyer many built-ins.

All over the US, kitchen appliances spur sales of new houses

Pholos (below): Guy Burgess

In some cities, built-ins are "musts."� In others, builders say they "can't be bothered"� with appliances. The trend, however, is clearly toward the "must"� point of view.

Detroit's Ted Pratt, who built the house shown above, puts the case for built-ins this way: "They protect the buyer from burdening himself with short-term credit, thus lessen the lender's risk. They also make it easier to design the kitchen efficiently."�

This endorsement comes from a builder who offers built-ins as standard equipment. Leaders who disagree with Pratt do so only in degree. Nearly all say built-ins are a desirable sales feature, as options if not as standard equipment.

Kitchen appliances like these are optional equipment offered by Todd Sloan in Colorado Springs. He says 68% take oven and range at $325.

$14,800 house has sold fast this year. Sloan reports many buyers take an added family room at $500 extra.