WP 3 Parent/Child Theme Framework Question

I have used wordpress themes both bought and ones I have custom coded. However, as I usually start with the “starkers” base theme I usually find myself repeating myself.

I have a few WP projects coming up that are the same functionality (pages, custom pages, blog, and custom homepage) but with different CSS/layouts.

I would like to harness the power of WP parent child themes but not sure what the best option for me would be. Should I build upon the default twenty ten theme, use thematic or is the a better way to do this. I haven’t used filters or too much custom WP queries before however I am an experience PHP developer so should be able to pick things up.

I took a look at thematic last night but not sure if it is too overkill and although twentyten is a good start point there are too many functions that I feel I need to chop out.

If any experienced WP gurus could give me their opinion that would be great.

Thanks