Hey cabinetmaker. I understand you wanting to develop a coin and thought I'd lend a hand in your decision making.
By tthe sounds of it you have an idea for some sort of innovation in crypto and aren't looking to make a copy/paste pump and dump coin.
If you have an idea for a coin that you would like made, seek a developer that has a proven track record of good work.
These guys are not cheap.. And to get a coin built from "scratch" with some sort of innovation is going to cost alot of man hours and BTC.(+10BTC)
Many competent programmers in the Bitcoin ecosystem. But as you had mentioned in your original post finding a developer that won't backdoor things might be a problem. Sadly it seems that alot of people with programming knowledge use it for less than honorable deeds.
That being said I know a few developers that I would consider trustworthy, but they are likely balls deep on their own projects at the moment.
Perhaps you could create a post here calling developers to aid you in coin creation? Then decide who will be best for you to work with.