With the empty row, this is what we get in Mozilla 1.6 for Linux:

This is the closest thing to correct we've seen so far. It seems like Mozilla renders tables much more sanely when you add an empty row. That's whack; it should always render as if the empty row were there. The only problem with this rendering is the extra space after the main item names.

On IE6 for Windows, it looks like this:

Practically the same as the other variations we've tried. I haven't been able to find any magic formula to coax Internet Explorer for Windows to render this table correctly.

In the Bizzaro-world of IE5 for Mac we get this:

Although all the spacer cells are the same size again, the main item name cells are much longer: they appear to add the length of a spacer cell to what they were on my first attempt.

Here's what this table looks like in your browser:

That brings us to the conclusion of my frustration-driven rant. I hope it's been educational. Now I need to get back to tearing my hair out.