[dgacmu]

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...

[rcme]

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.

[mikeyouse]

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

[photonerd]

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.