Some styles such as Australian standard lagers (VB, XXX.. ) use up to 30% cane sugar because that's historically a part of the style. And I don't detect anything cidery in VB or CD. Can't detect much at all of course but not cidery.
Many mainstream American beers use sugar in a different form, namely rice or maize, often up to 40%. During mashing these are converted to fermentable sugars. Again, part of the style and has been for nearly 150 years.
Sugar and Maize are used as a proportion of the fermentables in many Euro beers outside the German Reinheitsgebot area and most Asian lagers use a lot of rice. An example, Stella Artois proudly lists Water, Malted Barley, Maize and Hops as its ingredients. Leo lager (Thai) from Aldi praises its rice on the label.
On the global scale only a small proportion of beers are all-malt. I think personally the "all malt" mantra is a bit snobbish, a bit like a fish restaurant saying you can have the fish but we can't give you any chips. On the other hand you wouldn't expect a Japanese Sashimi restaurant to serve chips but fish would be aplenty.
It all depends on the style. However as damoninja says you wouldn't want too much sugar in the mix or it will turn out thin and nasty.
PS welcome aboard Lindsay - if using a kit, then rather than a kilo of sugar, a good way to is to use a kilo of Brew Enhancer 2