Which type of page to use for a customized front page in Drupal 7?
I always tend to use the Context module.  Just set up a front page context that doesn't load all the unnecessary items (blocks, breadcrumbs or whatever) then have any node/panel you fancy as a home page without all the extra items that you don't need rendered onto the page.  It does seem slightly overkill to have an entire content type dedicated to one node though, I agree with that.