This project involved animation, so these images at 1200x900 only needed about 45 sec. to render on my year+ old quad-core.  There is one overhead point light in the room for shadows/highlights, two diffuse-only fill lights, one very distant point light outside to shine through the window, and a shadowless diffuse light pointing up to simulate ambient lighting.  No raytraced reflections or complex shaders, just well chosen environment maps on the various materials.  I was very pleased when I finally got it down to under a minute per frame.