1. An interactive input system comprising: an appliance; imaging structure separately imaging an area in close proximity to a touch surface and a region remote from said touch surface; memory storing a databank of gestures; and processing structure communicating with said appliance, said memory and said imaging structure, said processing structure being operable in one of a touch input mode and a gesture input mode, in said touch input mode, said processing structure controlling operation of said appliance in response to user touch input entered via user interaction with a touch surface and in said gesture input mode, said processing structure controlling operation of said appliance in response to remote user gesture input occurring anywhere in said region remote from said touch surface that is within the field of view of said imaging structure, wherein said controller remains in said gesture input mode until a pointer appears in images of said area at which time said controller is automatically conditioned to said touch input mode and wherein in said gesture input mode and during detection of remote user gesture input, said processing structure compares received image data with said databank of gestures to recognize input gestures.