An embassy posting in Kabul, Afghanistan, or Conakry, Guinea, may be important, but it definitely lacks the glamour—and material comforts—of a position in Paris or Rome. Diplomats in so-called hardship posts are sometimes lucky if they can get electricity running continuously to power their homes. But they are given one amenity that their more pampered peers lack: the same pricey appliances that grace the kitchens of Martha Stewart and Oprah Winfrey.

Most of the 371 ambassadorial residences the United States has around the world get white Westinghouse ranges for their kitchens. Just 20, including Accra, Ghana, and Tashkent, Uzbekistan, have high-end, professional-style Vikings. The more brutal the conditions, the more likely the ambassador is to get one of the Mississippi-made ranges.

The ranges, which cost $4,000 and up at retail versus $400 for the more standard models, aren’t frivolous fittings, say State Department staffers. “The kitchen is not some beautiful gorgeous thing that you would see in a magazine,” says Darlene Martin, interior space planner at the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations, a U.S. State Department office that builds and designs embassies and residences. “It’s utilitarian.”

Entertaining plays a significant role in global diplomacy—at gatherings and parties, lips are loosened, relationships are built, and deals get done. U.S. ambassadors generally host several social events a week, from intimate dinners with key officials to Fourth of July bashes with hundreds of guests.

In Freetown, Sierra Leone, U.S. Ambassador June Carter Perry hosts at least three major events a month, plus many more breakfasts, lunches, and dinners, in a home run entirely on generators. “Infrastructure is bleak,” says Danna Van Brandt, the embassy’s public affairs officer, via email. Catering is not available. Yet “for special occasions, traditional American fare must be included, like Thanksgiving turkeys, which present a challenge to normal kitchen equipment in Sierra Leone.”

Turkeys aren’t the only challenges that personnel operating the ranges face in hardship posts. The appliances tend to run on non-U.S. voltages and spend much of the day on generators. Climates can be extreme. If something breaks down, repairmen and spare parts can be impossible to come by.

About five or six years ago, Martin began getting more requests from embassies for commercial ranges, the heavy-duty kind used in restaurants, because some of the standard models had given out before planned events. But such ranges weren’t meant to be used in homes. “Staffers don’t really understand intricacies in a kitchen,” Martin says. “They could be potentially burning the house down.”

An avid cook, Martin took a personal interest in finding an alternative. At a trade show, she discovered several American companies that make tough stoves, including Wolf Appliance. But only Viking was willing to work within the State Department’s budgetary restrictions and complicated logistics.