In 2008, the State Department’s budget for the furniture, furnishings, and other residence design elements held steady at $5.8 million. Most residences end up costing about $150,000, with draperies often the highest expense, says Gail Jackson-Johnson, an interior designer at the Bureau of Overseas Building Operations. Everything has to look picture-perfect, since an embassy or a residence may be a guest’s first glimpse of the United States.

A 36-inch Viking range, which heats up in minutes and has a warming drawer to help with entertaining, retails in the U.S. for $6,000; the U.S. government gets it for about 20 percent less, says Kimberly Benson, vice president of San Diego–based Cange International, which handles Viking’s exports.

About six years ago, Benson began meeting with State Department officials to get their exact specifications and sent packets of detailed information on the equipment to embassies. The company sends ranges to a domestic inspection point for State Department officials to approve before the appliances are sent off on their global mission. Because the ranges tend to travel to tough-to-reach areas, there are no local distributors and Viking must handle all the shipping. The company is willing to make the effort because it realizes the high-profile nature of being in a U.S. Embassy, Benson says. (Because Cange manages the relationship, Viking referred all questions to Benson.) The stoves are bound to be noticed by distinguished guests.

So far, none of the Viking ranges have broken down, and they have only required a handful of replacement parts, according to Martin.

In Baku, Azerbaijan, chef Yuriy Bragin says via email that he uses a Viking to prepare all meals for Ambassador Anne Derse and her family. The embassy also holds about 15 events a month at the residence, including performances by American musicians and dinners with senior government ministers. Before the Viking arrived three years ago, Bragin says, it was tough to cook the various components of a meal simultaneously for a large number of guests.

He can now make enough gravy for 180 people in just 40 minutes. The speed at which the Viking range heats up also helped when he found out about a visitor’s dietary restrictions at the last minute. “The Viking enabled me to quickly prepare individual dishes and avoid any awkward moments in which other guests would eat while one or more guests sat without a meal,” says Bragin. Diplomatic crisis averted.