1. A countertop-based digital image capture and processing system, comprising: a housing having an imaging window with an illumination-focusing lens structure integrated within said imaging window; an area-type image formation and detection subsystem, disposed in said housing, and having image formation optics for projecting a field of view (FOV) through said imaging window and onto an area-type image detection array, for forming and detecting 2D digital images of an object in said FOV, during object illumination and imaging operations; an illumination subsystem, disposed in said housing, having a single array of LEDs, disposed immediately behind said illumination-focusing lens structure, for generating a field of visible illumination that reflects off an object within said FOV and is transmitted back through said imaging window and onto said area-type image detection array to form one or more 2D digital images of said object, while said field of visible illumination is highly confined below the field of view of a system operator and customers who are present during object illumination and imaging operations; an image capturing and buffering subsystem, disposed in said housing, for capturing and buffering 2D digital images detected by said area-type image formation and detection subsystem; a digital image processing subsystem, disposed in said housing, for processing 2D digital images captured and buffered by said image capturing and buffering subsystem and reading one or more 1D and/or 2D code symbols graphically represented therein, and generating symbol character data representative of said read 1D and/or 2D code symbols; and a system control subsystem, disposed in said housing, for controlling and/or coordinating one or more said subsystems during object illumination and imaging operations.