Espalier Fig or Stepover?

I've been attempting to espalier a Celeste fig against the corner of my shed since last summer.  It's a young plant so I've had some success with the flexible new growth, but I've got a long way to go.  The following picture shows the tree in mid-summer 2010.

Fig in early stages of espalier training.

When I first planted it I thought "Okay, I'm going for an espalier." Most of you probably know it's a bit more time-consuming than that.  My first mistake was not building a strong framework to guide the plant's growth.  I got lazy and simply dug a few metal supports into the ground and tied down the growing limbs with string.  I know most plants want to grow upward, but I was still surprised when the young limbs were strong enough to pull my supports out of the ground.

Note that the lowest limbs are generally horizontal to the ground.  I say "generally" because the nice lush leaves hide alot of my mistakes. The top 2/3 of the plant grew last summer.  Talk about some serious growth.

I finally wised up this past weekend and built an appropriate "ground level" support/frame for the lowest limbs.  I drove 2-foot cedar stakes into the ground and used a plastic coated metal pole for the horizontal guide section.  I used plastic ribbon to firmly secure the pole to the posts. I then pulled down the wayward growth and secured it tightly (but with enough slack/space to allow for growth without strangling the limbs) to the horizontal pole.

Cedar stakes and horizontal pole to train lowest limbs.

I didn't build a massive structure because I'm still deciding whether or not I want to have a multi-tiered espalier or opt for a stepover.  A stepover is essentially a 1-tier espalier close to the ground.  I'm thinking that I'll probably go with a stepover because individual fig limbs can grow multiple feet in a season.  All new growth starting close to the ground will have plenty of vertical space for full growth. It also means I'll prune the central leader back to the level of the horizontal limbs.  And the greedy ants will likely thank me for creating orderly tightropes that lead to tasty figs in late summer.  Sybil knows that it's a race between human and ant when fig harvest begins!

If I opt for a stepover, I will cut the central growth you see at the corner of the shed.

If you think I'm crazy for considering cutting off such lush growth, you need to check out the following pictures of stepover figs in Japan. They get multiple feet of growth per growing limb each season and the farmers heavily cut back each limb every winter, leaving a unique appearance.

Vertical summer growth from a stepover fig tree trained horizontally.  You can also see small figs in this picture.

Lush stepovers in active growth.

Stepover figs in the fall after leaf drop.  Note the massive limbs that grew during the main growing season.

Here is a set of heavily pruned stepovers.  They don't necessarily look pretty, but they are extremely productive in a relatively small growing space.

What do you guys think of this?  Does anybody have experience with espaliered fruit trees?  Do you have any pictures, links, or suggestions to share?  Let me know, I'd love to hear from you.