what about cabinet moldings glued on the exterior?

Yeah that's what I currently have (and was going to do here as well):

http://www.fishbrains.net/images/97/skinned1.jpg

looks impressive to me!

Yeah it may be =)

I was going to install the doors so they are flush with the canopy with a gap that matches my scribe width.

There is plenty to go wrong here when I could just copy my current stand and be happy. Browsing build threads is sometimes a bad idea.

paint those lines in a color that looks similar to a shadow.

so if its going to be all white - go with a light gray. You will get a similar effect and you can stick to you old design. It'll be believable as long as you dont flood the front of the stand with light - keep things dim :)

I'm actually going against everyone's better judgement and I'm going to attempt to hand carve idea 1. I'll have pics soon (and maybe tears).

If you scribe the line out and use a small carving tool by hand it might turn out better. using a saw or dremel there is always a better chance to screw up, i speak from personal experience faster is not always better. :biggrin:

Yeah I'm doing it how I feel comfortable doing it. This means many hours and my utility knife =)

I would screw a striaght piece of wood to stand to use as a guide and then use a router and a small bit to carve the lines, the screw holes can easily be filled with wood filler.
Then simply sand it and paint it.

Only bad things happen fast, all good things take time.