??? Would You or Have You Paid A Premium Price For A Component Because Of It's Looks ???

Esthetics is certainly a contributing factor, both ways. 

On the positive, my PearlAcoustics Sibelius speakers made from thick, real, solid oak certainly helped to tip the scales. The Rega Naia with its space age design as well, even helped with WAF! 

On the negative, I will never buy anything Macintosh, as I think it is just ugly as sin.  

Yes, all things being similar, I’m willing to pay more for a component that looks good to me and has some wow factor as opposed to an ugly black box!

Do you think Mcintosh gear would be as popular if it wasn't pretty?

For me ascetics are almost as important as sound quality. yes, you can have both. You look at your system almost as much as you listen to it. Plus if it's "pretty" your other half might have less issue having it take up half a room. 

For me, I like unity, so if most of my stuff is black, the other pieces should match. Also meters and lights are pretty, so why not, again, Mcintosh. 

For me the one exception would my turntable, will never buy a piano black one again, almost impossible to keep clean!

Of course! I just acquired a bunch of McIntosh stuff.  Rega P8 turntable.  Would I have bought it but for the looks?  well... I didn't buy the P6.

I wouldn’t spend extra solely because of looks, but if you’re spending big $ on a component it better not be hard on the eyes. When I was shopping for a new Integrated, my final choice came down to Luxman and Accuphase. Both sounded great to my ears, although different. I was initially leaning very slightly in favor of the Accuphase but couldn’t pull the trigger on it because of how it looked. Went with the Luxman 509-Z and have never looked back.