Homeowners with open-plan living areas and kitchens have been advised to ensure that their appliances and utility fixtures like kitchen taps and sinks are aesthetically pleasing.A new book from Creative Homeowner Press entitled Best Signature Kitchens has set out the major trends and principles in current kitchen design, NorthJersey.com reported.One such trend notes that the kitchen has undergone a massive change from once being a utilitarian back room, outfitted with wood or coal-burning stoves and decidedly crude equipment, to the modern concept of the kitchen as the hub of the home that is integrated with dining and living spaces.According to the book, this means that kitchen items need better looks or camouflage in order to fit into these open designs, while some architectural elements formerly reserved for living spaces must expand into the kitchen. Partition walls and doorways that would have directed traffic flow are often gone, so the transitions between the rooms have to be delineated by the lay-out, observed NorthJersey.com.Meanwhile, Jazzou.com reported last week that environmentally friendly issues were among the top discussion points at the recent Eurocucina kitchen design exhibition in Milan.