Does your amp/preamp/int amp have to look good?

It will look good if it sounds good. You'll find some rationale to make it work.
If it sounds bad, the looks will fade. Kind of like all relationships.

I got it. If wife sounds good the equipment should look good too.

Yes, they need to at least look good to me. My VAC preamp and my Cary amp are exceptional in my eye, the W4S not so much. It is a clean and honest design, just not real good looking.
Current brands that don't do much for me style wise would be VTL, Atmasphere, and Soulution.

Back when I had all EAR equipment I used to just look at the rack, with the music off. It was that beautiful to me. Now they're gone. While EAR stuff sounds great, it's really overpriced, IMO. Oh well...

For me it matters only because I won't audition a piece of kit I don't like the looks of. As far as I'm concerned, my Harbeth's are the best looking speakers on the planet. I do not like fancy glossy gear. There's so much amazing gear out there that I have enough choices to avoid looks I don't like. Of course if everything looked like a Vivid B1 I'd had no choice but to make my house look like Tony Sopranos.