Luxury Los Angeles Real Estate News and Info

Lauren Sherman, 06.27.07, 6:00 PM ET

Jean-Paul Noens knows a thing or two about outfitting an upscale home.

With properties in Brooklyn Heights, the Hamptons and Upstate New York, Noens, 50, is unabashed about buying top-of-the-line furnishings. He visits auction houses like Doyles, Christie's and Sotheby's (nyse: BID - news - people ) for his collection of crystal silverware and antique furniture. When it comes to modern appliances, Noens, who owns an air freight business, favors Viking grills and refrigerators.

Money seems to be no object. His two Döttling safes ran him a combined $400,000.

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He's not alone in his spending habits. Whether it's $10,000 Léron hand-embroidered bed linens or a $66,000 copper bathtub from Kohler, homeowners are investing in their interiors. In a survey conducted in February by the American Institute of Architects, 42% of respondents said they made overall additions to their homes last year.

Haute Cuisine
The kitchen, however, is seeing the most action. Nearly 63% of respondents said they added a new "upper-end" appliance to their kitchen. Sixty-four percent increased kitchen space.

Indeed, investing in high-end housewares such as a Sub-Zero refrigerator--with an exterior display that monitors temperature--or an all-copper stove--with electric and gas capabilities--has become almost ordinary, says Steve Melman, director of economic services at the National Association of Home Builders. And having duplicate appliances is becoming the norm.

[Homeowners] are looking to what makes life convenient," he says. Toto's Neorest 600 even makes going to the bathroom easier, with a motion-sensored automatic lid, automatic flush and, yes, a seat warmer.

Other high-end amenities include outdoor kitchens, mud rooms (which are essentially upscale laundry rooms) and entire rooms devoted to the home's security system.

Suped-Up Security
Los Angeles-based Strategically Armored and Fortified Environments, a leader in high-end security systems, was recently commissioned to design a "bat cave" for one of its top-tier clients to store his collection of modern automobiles.

The vault, protected by Level-VII ballistic panels, keeps each car on a turntable two feet off the ground and includes a waterfall and moat to further block intruders. At $2.5 million, it just might be the most expensive add-on you can buy for your home, even topping the Holland-based Kharma's Enigma speaker system, which is priced at $1 million. The speakers are said to let you hear sounds that no others on the commercial market will pick up.

Too over the top? Noens is proof positive that there will always be market for outrageously upscale household items.

"I'm a shopaholic," he says. "My homes are museums--if I want to try a different look and buy more things, I'll just buy another house to fit them all."