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Criss,

I think GTHill wrote what I was going to write exactly. APs on the same channel can arbitrate. APs on adjacent, overlapping channels (less than 5 apart) will interfere with each other.

I used to subscribe to your line of thinking until I was giving a class at a large corporation. Some of the students were tasked with installing public access Wi-Fi in a complex environment that required 5 overlapping APs. They had the chance to do extensive testing with incredibly expensive RF testing and analysis equipment in advance of the installation. When I mentioned that 1, 6 and 11 are recommended but that in some environments odd channels may be better, one of the students vehemently disagreed and had the hard data from their tests to prove it.

That piqued my interest so I re-read some of the CWNA materials. Sure enough, those materials also explicitly stated that choosing the same channel on nearby access points is preferable to choosing adjacent, overlapping channels.