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 the 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 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.