[Delphinus]

I'm working on a stand for my 280g tank and have come to a point where I'm having trouble deciding exactly how the finish will look on it.

The stand is 72" long and 32" deep. Only the front and right hand side of the stand will be visible as this is an inwall tank, so the left side will be flush to the wall beside it.

The finish will be hardwood, I'm leaning towards maple but I may go with birch. No cabinet doors or anything like that, as the intent of it is for the front to be "view only" - all access will be from the tank room in behind.

Anyhow, anytime I look at cabinetry, usually the grains run vertical. I'm currently thinking that I would like to have the wood grains run vertically.

But since the front piece is 72" and you can only get plywood in 4x8 sheets, that means I'd have to splice two pieces in to get the 72" length.

So here's my question I guess... is it nicer to have the wood grains run vertically, or should I just get the grains to run horizontally and just get one piece cut instead of splicing together two pieces?