Jean,
Thank you for your prompt reply.
Alas, I don't get what you describe. What I get is a large color wheel with six icons across the top: The trick is that the fourth icon (looks like a brick) reads "Apple" in the little window. It's when you click the little up/down arrows that the whole list of available materials appear! At that point, when you select one of the items in the list, it is as you describe with the left/right arrows, the house and a pull-down list.
Thank you for your help in getting me to investigate more closely. π