Easy to clean is important, but we don't need to attach form and function so tightly in the age of modern tech. We have better plastic finishes, and in a fairly utilitarian modern lifestyle we just don't make as much mess, our meals are simpler.

Then again, I'm a vegetarian with no kids, so my experience of kitchen cleaning may be a bit different, since I don't do a lot of the more messy and hygiene critical stuff.

Older non-utilitarian design really fits pretty well with very modern lifestyles and technology, because there's not nearly as much pressure on the environment to be functional, when the actual things you're doing are more streamlined.