Many thanks for all the replies! I am trying to respond as best as I can.
Bottom bars left on: Definitely would have been easier plus added stability to the comb. Thanks for that info.
Reason for trying it this way: I am not a beekeeper, just want to have a hive in the backyard, to observe, marvel, and maybe eventually get some honey from the boxes that are on top. I trust that they don't need my interference. If they don't make it I'll be sad, of course. But I also read about Warre hives and Oscar Perone's way of beekeeping, and as far as I know neither interfere with their hives.
As far as the inspector is concerned, yes, you are right. But I am considering my situation rather like a hive in a tree or some other place the bees chose as a home. And, by the way, they did just one day move in all on their own.
So, I hope that with the added space at the bottom they will thrive. Three mediums seems like a decent space for a colony to keep doing their thing. Eventually they will swarm, but that's just part of nature.
Thanks again for the responses!