The typical household radiator can be a bit of an eye-sore. I'm perhaps being unkind since it does a good job of keeping the room it is in warm. However, it just looks like a white slab of nothingness jutting out from the wall. No wonder our eyes get conditioned to "not seeing" them - we filter them out of our vision just like someone with tinnitus habituates to filter out the ringing noise in their head.
Radiators tend to take up an inordinate amount of space in any given room. Not just because of the radiator, but because you have to arrange your furniture around them. This means they really do influence the layout of a room. And of course, to make the most of the radiator, it's no good hiding it behind a sofa if you want to make the most of its radiating qualities.
Having said all of that, radiators don't have to be pure function - they can have form as well. Designer radiators have given the humble radiator a makeover and turned them into mere chunks of metal that help radiate heat to....works of art. Stainless steel radiators dazzle and add to a modern, minimalist design. They are no longer relegated to the stage-hand, they are on the stage, adding to the decor.
