By Lisa Neff

Contributing writer

International high fashion was featured on the runways in New York City this last week.

And international high fashion was featured on countertops in New York City last week.

Nespresso, the company known for making art of espresso, chose the arrival of the Mercedes-Benz 2008 Spring Collection Fashion Week to debut its new sleek and stylish Essenza coffee machine. The machine, available in twilight blue and glam red, stardust gold and cyber blue, earned a lot of buzz at the international event.

Nespresso and De’Longhi also debuted the one-touch Lattissima, which allows coffee enthusiasts to easily prepare a latte or cappuccino with the perfect milk froth. www.nespresso.com

Tea and temp: Think boiled water is all that’s needed for tea? Wrong. Different types of tea favored in different parts of the world require water heated to different temps. The utiliTea from Adagio Teas is an electric kettle with a unique variable temperature control. Other kettles boil water. UtiliTea features a gamut of temp settings so water reaches the ideal temperature—cooler than boiling for green tea and quickly boiling for black tea. www.adagio.com

Earthly concern: From the “Mother of Invention” comes a pan to help Mother Nature. The Home Shopping Network’s Joy Mangano partnered with chef Todd English to create a PTFE-free non-stick pan. It’s called the GreenPan—and for its debut HSN sold about 24,000 in less than four hours. The product line includes a six-piece GreenPan cookware set, an 8-inch frying pan, a 12-inch frying pan and a three-piece wok set. The pans have a high heat tolerance, resist scratches, and feature a non-stick surface that does not break down over time. www.hsn.com

Italian finesse: Bertazzoni, the leading Italian manufacturer of precision-engineered kitchen products expanded into the North American market this year. The expansion coincided with the 125th anniversary of the family-operated company. To create the North American Modular and Professional series of ranges, Milan’s top designers partnered with Bertazzoni’s top engineers. Those who like to cook will appreciate that with the high-efficiency burner, pasta water boils 30 percent faster. Those who like to look will appreciate the Italian style and color options (green, white, red, beige, black, blue, yellow and vino). www.bertazzoni-italia.com

Bilingual cooker: Whirlpool has introduced a range designed especially for multi-cultural cooking. With an interchangeable comal or grate, it’s easy to cook multiple tortillas or vegetables. Or, use the full-width grate for a uniform cooking surface. The convenient roll-out broiler in place of the bottom drawer provides the flexibility to bake and broil at the same time. Cooks also will find Spanish and English controls. www.whirlpool.com

Cozy kitchenette: Compact Kitchens takes its inspiration for its compact appliances from the mini-appliances more common overseas than in America’s suburban McMansions or urban lofts. The Compact Kitchens signature appliance—perfect for outfitting a boat, an RV, a cottage or an apartment—boxes up a refrigerator, a sink and two stove-top burners. www.compact-kitchens.com

Tapping purity: Consumers want cleaner, safer water. Environmentalists want a reduction in the sale of bottles of water, which fill landfills after they’re emptied. World health advocates want richer countries to stop depleting poorer countries of their water resources. The Clear20 water filtration system from Applica removes five times more contaminants from tap water than most pitcher systems. The pitcher, attached by a hose to a filter on the faucet, also fills about nine times faster than most pitcher systems. www.clear20.com

Old World treasure: Much mystery and mythology is associated with truffles, in large part because of the hunt associated with finding the taste-bud treasure. Urbani Tartufi has developed an intricate network of truffle hunters to provide truffles through the year’s four truffle seasons. White truffles are available Sept. 1 through Dec. 31; black truffles, Jan. 16 through Feb. 28; Bianchetto truffles, March 1 through March 30 and summer truffles, April 1 through Aug. 30. Urbani also offers, truffle oil, summer truffle sauce and truffle puree for blending the flavor into butter and broth. www.urbani.com

English lodge/country cottage: The Dream Lodge Group exists to recreate country lodges—Americans would call them country cottages—near the seaside town of Hastings, England. The lodge, in addition to a master bedroom, features a luxury fitted kitchen. While the kitchen has Old English style, the manufacturers stress that it contains an American-style fridge and freezer. The price for a lodge of your own? About 80,000 British pounds or $162,000. www.dreamlodgegroup.co.uk