Here are the main reasons I will see a recipe, think "Oh man, that looks amazing," and then not make it (aside from it involving specific unpreferred ingredients):

1.) The recipe is for a crowd (and it's not Thanksgiving). I basically feed 2.5 people at a time.

2.) The recipe is very involved. If it spans more than three columns or over one page, I barely have time to read the recipe, let alone make it.

3.) The recipe involves specialty-grocery-store ingredients that I am unlikely to use after making said recipe.

4.) The recipe involves a food mill or potato ricer.

5.) The recipe involves taking dough and refrigerating it for eight hours or basically any major level of proficiency with dough.

6.) The recipe involves anything beyond beginner-level frying or candy-making--anything where a thermometer is a big part of it.

7.) The recipe presumes I'm a person who can just be someone who lives in a house where there's a cake and not have a mental battle every waking moment thinking THERE IS CAKE IN THE HOUSE I BETTER NOT EAT THE CAKE BUT I MADE THE CAKE SO I SHOULD EAT THE CAKE CAKE CAKE CAKE. Sometimes it's just easier not to go there.