When good design is applied to eating we change mealtime from the animal level of biological feeding to the esthetic experience of dining and conversation. Mealtime changes from stuffing the face to a holistic fulfilling experience including the social, sensory, and aesthetic experiences unique to the best our cultures have to offer. Think about a diner party with half dozen or so close friends eating in a fine dining room. Compare it with a typical school or even many family mealtime routines. House design relates to family values.
Designers can point out the effect of various choices.
Multiple use spaces often can be effectively designed, but it is easier to make a single use space aesthetically appropriate and effective for an intended use. Today there is a serious integrity problem with much of our constructed and manufactured design. We live in a plasticland of contradictory and untruthful visual relationships. We can easily purchase Early American or Colonial furniture finished with plastic laminates that are so realistic that some can't be recognized as fake. Children growing up in an environment of pretense are being conditioned to excuse and rationalize fakery as quality.