Have some fun with bookshelf monitors!!

For bookshelves with a wood finish that are interesting, look at Revel PerformaBe M126Be in Walnut.  Beryllium tweeters that are airy without sibilance and good mids and clear punch in the lows down to about 80-60 Hz depending on room gain.  They look gorgeous with a high-end furniture quality look.  I run with subs which you’ll want with any bookshelves in a large room.  

For $5K, you’d be remiss to not consider the Epos ES-7N or ES-14N. They were engineered by one of the best designers in the biz, Karl Fink. 

Well, given your constraints "Speakers have to sit on a bookshelf, have a wood or white finish, and most importantly be interesting!", you could do 1 of 2 things.

1: Buy a speaker designed to be both near a wall and on a bookshelf, Ex. (some Dali models among others) and make them better sounding with X/O upgrades and add a nice wood veneer or 

2)  Buy a nice speaker with interesting characteristics and place them on a stand. 

I have Audel Magika II using good drivers in a nice layered birch plywood cabinet.  I also looked at Xavian, Penaudio, Fischer & Fischer, Audio Revival, Fritz among a few others.  

I do not think any of my choices would perform best placed on a bookshelf but some of the companies offer really small monitors, new or discontinued which could work out well.  

In my experience don’t overlook the Nola Boxer 3. Big speaker sound in a bookshelf size, but they perform best on stands. 

I am a monitor guy also.

I would suggest NSMT 15 SE. Small speaker manufacturer in North Carolina. Some of the best I’ve heard. Acoustic Suspension design.

Having said that, Devore makes some wonderful Bookshelf speakers...Micro O's. Truly made to go in a bookshelf