Changing racks from Grand Prix to home made??

HI, I have been using Grand Prix racks in both my main system and my bedroom system. Racks are kind of hard to qualify their merit since it's not an easy A/B comparison. I remember thinking when I got one that it made a very nice improvement. Now I'm thinking of getting rid of them for aesthetic reasons. I'm re designing my living room and I would like to organize most of my equipment hidden in shelving and have a few things like my preamp and DAC accessible. I am a builder so I can make most anything. I was thinking of getting 1 1/2" thick maple to use under the components. The way I want things to look I just don't think anything but a custom build will work.

I'm wondering if anyone else has done something like this and been happy or sad with the sound after doing it? I suppose if I could A/B the custom rack vs the Grand Prix and the Grand Prix was way better then I would stick with the Grand Prix some way. I don't know for sure if I used to be way more neurotic about this audio stuff when I got them. These days I tend not to obsess to much or have the desire to change power cords and things like that all the time.

Thanks, Ryan