For many of us, the Good Housekeeping Seal is as emblematic of bygone eras as butter churns, home-ec class and the pre-computerized American kitchen.

Step inside today's Good Housekeeping Research Institute, though, and that notion is history. The place is sleek, modern, ergonomic and green: an 18,500-square-foot, two-year-old facility that occupies the 29th floor of the Hearst Tower in midtown Manhattan.

With four test kitchens, each equipped with both gas and electric ranges, there is ample space to develop the quick, easy recipes that readers of Good Housekeeping magazine request. Side-by-side are sophisticated, computer-monitored laboratories for examining cosmetics, textiles and hundreds of other household products. Lab-coated staffers move about quietly, testing and retesting until satisfied with the results.

Good Housekeeping remains a rock-solid advocate for consumers. It has tested and evaluated food and recipes, appliances and housewares for nearly 100 years. And there are plenty of fans who appreciate the efforts: "Thank you for helping me live better," wrote reader Mary Proctor of Des Moines.

Despite its unglamorous image as a middle-market monthly, Good Housekeeping magazine has a circulation of 4.6 million: more than Real Simple and Martha Stewart Living magazines combined; more than Family Circle's 3.9 million and Southern Living's 3 million. Most of Good Housekeeping's readers live in the mid-Atlantic, Midwest and Southern states. The magazine's average reader is a woman in her late 40s.

Last year the publication, founded in 1885, posted the best revenue period in its history. The company attributed the spike to an updated look, initiated in late 2006, creating 10 distinct "Good" sections, such as Good Health, Good Food and Good Buzz (the last covers how celebrities do such things as lose weight quickly and make their favorite spiced tea).

The magazine's goals remain the same. It continues to be relevant to its readers by changing in only subtle ways.

"Good Housekeeping has a warmth and a trust. There's a fondness that readers have for this brand," said its editor in chief, Rosemary Ellis. "What they want is 'Save me time; save me money and the hassle.' "

SEAL OF APPROVAL

The first Experiment Kitchen opened in 1900 in Springfield, Mass. In that decade, scientists and technicians established a Pure Food Assurance Department, lobbied for the standardization of kitchen counter height at 36 inches (early sinks were far lower, causing users to stoop), developed cooking time and temperature charts for dozens of foods, and began developing and testing the magazine's own recipes.

In 1910, the Experiment Kitchen was renamed the Good Housekeeping Research Institute, with an added model kitchen, a testing station for household devices and a domestic-science lab. That followed the establishment in 1909 of the Good Housekeeping Seal. Products advertised in the magazine that bear the seal are backed by a two-year limited warranty. The magazine reviews all submitted ads and refers those that are appropriate for testing by the Research Institute.

If consumers are not satisfied with, say, their Jack LaLanne Power Juicer or Francesco Rinaldi pasta sauce, the magazine will replace the product or refund the purchase price. About 5,000 products have earned the seal.

In a recent visit to the Hearst Tower, home of the multimedia Hearst Corp., we found Sharon Franke, director of kitchen appliances and technology, dressed in a lab coat and silhouetted against a spectacular floor-to-ceiling view of Central Park.

Franke was "personally responsible" for the recent testing of the new Kenmore electric range with AirGuard, a feature that claims to remove nearly all odors from self-cleaning oven cycles and burned foods. For pleasant aromas, shut AirGuard off and you can smell the cookies baking. The range, priced from $750 to $2,150, was one of eight new products chosen from among thousands for the 2008 Good Buy Awards, announced in this month's issue.

The institute tests more than 2,000 products annually. This time, Franke said, she found a winner in the Kenmore appliance.

"I made this mixture of hamburger, grease, grape juice and cheddar cheese in a blender, brushed it on the sides and burned it on for an hour," said Franke, a 20-year veteran of the magazine who cooks with a 50-year-old Magic Chef range at home. "I burned pizza, roasted salmon, potato and onion casserole, and it didn't produce any odor or smoke."