This is timely, I hadn't even considered this aspect. Everything that I have read so far shows the typical two deep bodies, and supers on top. I also had back surgery several years ago and should be considerate of weight, even though that idea still doesn't work it's way into my brain and I pay for it later sometimes.
So, I was going to go two deeps and one medium to start with, figuring I would probably need more mediums come July if it turned out to be a good year. So I guess my question is, being this far north, ( we do have winter sometimes ) should I replace the two deeps with 3 mediums to use as brood areas and storage, and then add another medium over them when ready with the queen excluder on top of the third medium?