Can "the idea" ever idiomatically take an infinitive?

I just ran across this sentence in an Ars Technica article:

The idea to use a marble came from a scene in the pilot, in which Holmes uses a marble to determine a building’s floor is slanted.

And it grates on my ear no end. It seemed apparent to me that the author should've written "the idea of using a marble", but, well, the line comes from a pretty well-established writer, Jennifer Ouellette. Can "the idea to do" ever be idiomatic? If so when can it take an infinitive complement?

Grammaring [reformatted] gives a fairly comprehensive list of nouns which may take a to-infinitive complement:

Nouns [which may be] followed by the to-infinitive:

ability // advice // agreement // ambition // anxiety // appeal // arrangement // attempt // chance // choice // decision // demand // desire // determination // dream // eagerness // failure // goal // intention // motivation // need // offer // opportunity // order // permission // plan // preparation // promise // proposal // recommendation // refusal // reluctance // reminder // request // requirement // suggestion // tendency // way // willingness // wish

• The ability to cooperate with others is as important as managing on our own.
• Our decision to close the firm was a difficult one to make.
• We were surprised at his offer to take us home.
• As a result of his failure to pay the mortgage, his house was foreclosed.
• She showed no willingness to help.

It will be seen that 'idea' isn't included in their list.

Neither does MyEnglishTeacher include 'idea' as one of the '37 most common noun + to-infinitive [colligations]' (a virtually identical list).

However, 'It was X's idea / her idea / ... to buy a new door' etc are unarguably idiomatic and totally acceptable.

Longman's advice is:

Don’t say ‘the idea to do something’. Say 'the idea of doing something'.

However, you can say 'it is a good idea to do something' and 'it was someone’s idea to do something'.

I'm indebted to Phil Sweet who refines Longman's crude rule of thumb in what I consider to be a very reasonable way:

I use the to-infinitive for stuff that actually happened, and the of + ing form for stuff that hasn't (as yet).

• The idea to finish the basement and rent it out [was John's] .... [implies that] this was done.
• The idea of finishing the basement and renting it out [seems reasonable.] ... is [more] speculative or theoretical in nature ... it's something being considered.

Sounds very strange to me (American). I can accept “had the idea to” as idiomatic when idea means thought/suggestion, but not when it means concept. “It was Mick who had the idea to use a can opener” sounds better than the sentence cited by the OP. I’d use “of getting” when idea means concept.