I'd be curious to see examples of very tastefully concealed / unobtrusive / or well integrated access panels.

(Asking for myself, because I agree with both of you - I hate having to open my lathe and plaster walls, but I also don't relish the idea of blatant access panels).

Maybe 8"x8" panels with electrical receptacles and data ports integrated so they're also functional...

You could leave lathe off of the tops and bottoms of your walls and cover those sections with baseboards and crown molding. Then you pop off the baseboards / crown molding to get access behind the wall.

I’ve done a smaller version of this with painted electrical junction box covers.

Basically have a cable run behind there and one of these every so often (especially at junctions).

Usually for networking or audio/video but I’ve run power cables like that too.

Some of the new Aria / Aria-like ones are pretty nice looking;

https://ariavent.com/products/flush-access-panel-luxe

Quick video showing it in 'action': https://www.youtube.com/shorts/nVo2pxSHCR0