I thought she was very pretty in the face in the early days. I did kind of notice that as far as her figure she is kind of straight up and down, but I've known a lot of men who like long legs just as much as big boobs, something about the image of those legs wrapped around them is what my husband and brother-in-law have told me. I think women with curves and breasts are more attractive, but I am not a man and I'm not a lesbian so what do I know. A lot of supermodels are pretty straight up and down and a lot of men seem to like them too. The funny thing is while I at least thought Daphne was pretty in the face I never thought Roz was all that attractive and didn't understand how she got all those men. I chalked it up to her being easy.

I liked Maya55555's answer.
And Roz simply had a voracious sexual appetite. I'm surprised she wasn't bisexual. (Says the bisexual chick who sports her own style of voracious sexual appetite)
Still like Maya's answer or post.

Well.. it wasn't as if it was Seattle that thought/regarded her as a Goddess, it was spindly, meek, henpecked Niles.
The women he had been with Maris, Mel etc. were far from attractive.
I have known people with average looking spouses that worshipped them as if they were super models.

Which makes sense, since he's a really skinny man.

It's only Nile who actually called her a goddess and I think he's really into skinny women
I hate Tarantino

Well, maybe they thought that if they cast someone really attractive (as opposed to just cute and pretty like miss Leeves) that perhaps it would draw attention away from Frasier's stories or something.
I think the setup rings true though, because you don't really know what attracts people to one another. And Daphne being the eccentric Brit who is borderline crazy (ESP or claims thereof) and who is not rich and physically fit, is the antithesis of Maris. Daphne is everything that Maris isn't, and it took what, five or seven years (I can't remember) for Niles to realize that.
That as opposed to Honey, or miss "Candy Cane", or any of the other hotties that got cast as sexual / romantic interests for Frasier who are there to carry the episode forward.
That, and everyone has their standard of beauty or desire. Your example of Sofia Vergara works for her series and audience, but she strikes me as being too much woman for Niles (were their ages more compatible). But hey, who knows? Maybe that would have worked.
I think Leeves was the right choice for the series.

Everyone's loveable to someone. It's not like they made it out that she was considered the beauty of Seattle or anything, it's just that Niles was that head over heels for.

Hated her.
She hams up that way over the top British accent the same way Sofia makes a clown show out of her Spanish accent.
It's like somebody doing a really bad impression of a British accent.
Plus, Jane Leeves is a fugly mutt, flat chested, flat assed, bean pole legs - nothing attractive about her. And that silly hair hanging in her eyes all the time! Good grief
They dragged out the Niles infatuation trope for what8 seasons?
Yes, wealthy big city psychiatrists always go for the laundry lady.

Why is it hard to believe? I see the point if it was an average Joe, but we are talking about Niles here. Niles' type wasn't flashy "bombshells." When he first met Daphne she was tall, thin with long flowing hair and wearing flower-print dresses. She had a classic/English rose look that I think fits in with Niles' character and refined taste.
He obviously was physically attracted to Daphne, but he wasn't into vulgarity; he was grossed out by Roz even though Roz is pretty.

No offense but this whole topic seems ridiculous to meespecially since the show from which Frasier was spun, Cheers, had a very sweet first season episode in which Coach tells his daughter (Allyce Beasley) that she's as beautiful as her late mother was, while the daughter had been very insecure about looking like her mother. To the coach she was a goddess.
See also the BBC situation comedy, The Vicar of Dibley in which a ditzy girl with an odd fashion sense captures the affection of the head of the parish council's son. The episose in which the father threatens to cut him off if he marries her is to die for.
"Well, for once the rich white man is in control!"
C. M. Burns

To get stuck in a loveless marriage for someone of Niles' character while being in the presence of a woman who was always friendly and supportive, and whom he also found attractive was enough to make such idealization possible.

The heart wants what the heart wants. She was young, pretty, had a cute figure and was exotic (being from another country and having an accent).
I'm sure lots of men would find her stunning.
Really, the way Niles freaked out and worshipped her as perfect was really too much to believe about any woman. Any man who idolizes someone that much has some problems of his own to work out. To see any other human of either gender as worthy of such worship and idolization is unhealthy.
Was ist der Sinn des Lebens?

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I thought that Roz was a lot hotter (hey, I can say that even though I'm female myself, can't I?)
Why do they call 'em soap operas anyway? Those things are FILTHY!-Fred Sanford

All true, but one more thing: expectation. Daphne exceeded them.
Watch that first season episode (#2?) where Niles does the double-take after being introduced to Daphne. Beautifully acted by both.
First impressions, love at first sight etc.

I think the main reason why Niles was infatuated, was because he got to know Daphne, and interact with her almost daily. She may not have been the most gorgeous thing on the planet, but she became that to him, because he got to smell her hair, or she'd touch his hand, or be kind to him, all the time. Most women probably didn't pay much attention to him, even his own wife, so to him, this was exciting to fantasize about a woman that was real and in his life all the time, and she was very pretty. But she was Venus to him, because she interacted with him all the time and was always there at Frasier's house and for all the occasions - big & small.
Are you going to your grave with unlived lives in your veins? ~ The Good Girl

I think a combination of Niles situation and the fact that Jane Leeves IS quite attractive both played in to it.
Watching her now, esp in the early seasons (my favourite ones) she just has such a dated look to her that it takes away from her beauty, but in 1993 that big hair look was still in. She was a bombshell when the show debuted.

I agree. She's naturally beautiful, not fake looking like a lot of actresses these days.
"I bet you write wonderful letters."

Jane Leeves was more attractive than Megan Fox or Sofia Vergara ever have been.
"Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?"

I have to say in several seasons she was an absolute knockout. Even if she wasn't though, people fall in love with less than models all the time, including strong sexual attractions.
Also consider how repressed and starved for attention Niles was.

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For the most part no but the episode in which Niles went dancing with her and she pretended to be his lady, I can see how that night would amp up the way one feels about someone.
Was ist der Sinn des Lebens?

Yes, there's a purposely theatrical quality to Daphne's disregard of the whole thing. I think it works because the show is a farce.
Just watch something as early as
A Midwinter Night's Dream
in Season 1. The way Niles hovers over her, as she closes her eyes.
Or in
Frasier Gotta Have It
-season 5- where they're sharing stories of their love lives, and when Daphne finishes her account, Niles rises in front of everyone,barely in control, and without saying anything, slowly walks out of the apartment.
One of the funniest scenes , actually.

I don't think you can count a child. Still only one person.
What's more unbelievable is Daphne failing to notice the fascination.

Armchair Critic Law 38:
If a film has a plot twist, overanalyse.