I personally think there is a niche for decorative racks in the market and think that a larger version of what you have pictured has some potential. Still, I have a few comments.
1) I believe the trim elements at the top and bottom will have a nice scale and look fine on a wider and taller rack. My bigger concern is that this trim will not allow more than one rack to be placed flush side by side, therby leaving a gap whish would give squirrely snakes a place to crawl into if they popped out of the tub while being put back in.
2) I think the slides add too much complexity, cost and weight to be worth any small gains. A bigger concern I have is the space they take up. Let's assume they add 7/8" per level, which I believe is about right. Even if the final product was six levels tall, that's 5.25 inches of space taken up which is almost equal to a whole other row of boxes.
So in about the same height you could have more boxes, cheaper cost and I think a better look.
3) Never been a huge fan of how birch ply and poplar take darker stains. Looks too blotchy to me. I've had the same problem so I can relate.
4) Lastly, this is clearly going to be a rack that has some expense to it between labor and materials. I strongly believe that decorative racks like this should use the completely clear polycarbonate food storage boxes from Cambro. They are more expensive but I believe that consumers looking for decorative racks would prefer clear boxes.
Racks built with these boxes look great. Personally I like the 9" tall Cambro boxes for their greater viewing area, even though that does end up being wasted space for most species kept in racks. The come in 6" tall versions as well.
I have plans for a rack built with these boxes. Each level can use a combo of two 12x18 boxes or one 26x18 box. Or I might go a bit wider giving me the choice of three 12x18 per level or one 12x18 and one 26x18.
The smaller boxes will slide in lengthwise, the larger widthwise.
