I too ran into this dilema. As my system was going into a newly rennovated living room my wife was very explicit it had better look great or it wasn't staying. I looked through every available rack on the net and would agree there were a lot of wonderful looking ones, though most tend to be very modern rather than classical (ie open with no backs). Prices too were also incredible. We ultimately went with a local chap who manufactures and is an audiophile. We drew up a rough draft of what we wanted it to look like and the he drafted the final blueprints. He put together a price is no limit option which came in at 3500 canadian which was a bit more than we had wanted. We therefor got a slightly tuned down model for about 2500 canadian. It is heavy slabs of mdf with sand filled sides and central struts. It weighs a ton (4 guys to lift) and sits on carbon blocks. The sound is quite good I believe (my system by the way is audiomeca mephisto II and ekianthus and romance turntable, musical fidelity integrated m3 nuvista, with piega p8ltd speakers, and audiotekne/hms wiring) though I did notice that with the audiomeca cd the isolation was not perfect. I went on to try out darumas which improved things substantially (much more open) but have not noticed any improvement by trying to isolate any of the other components so I suspect it is working very well. One option you might wish is to contact the chap I worked with as if you are in the states the conversion rate is excellent. We have since had a dining room table done by him and all the work has been gorgeous, both in finish and quality. He is very prompt and reliable. If you have any interest drop me a note. Otherwise you should be able to find someone locally, you may just need to do a diligent search. I think you will get a lot more bang for your buck and if looks are important you can get what you want.
Gary
Gary