We started with a 60's ranch, and did not appreciate it enough. Then we moved and could not find a medium sized house after a year of looking. We could find really old houses with a lot of charm and not a lot of insulation, and we could find newer construction larger houses. Meanwhile during this we were renting a 760 sq ft. 2 bedroom house.
We gave up the search and settled on a newer house. 2700 sq ft, 4 bed, 2.5 bath, plus unfinished basement. Some parts were great- I loved the kitchen pantry (never had one of those before! highly recommend.) The kids used the huge unfinished basement as an indoor winter playground (bikes and scooters, etc). We definitely loved having a guest room. Etc.
But in the end, it was just a waste. We used the formal dining room 3 times (Christmas and Tday). We used the office to hold the office-y stuff, but didn't need a whole room for that. Etc.
2 months ago we sold it for a small profit (probably about broke even over renting when you consider we had to do maintenance, which, yup, way more expensive on a big house!). We are now renting about 2000 sq ft house with its own set of issues, but its cheap rent. The filing cabinet and computer are back in the dining room (which we actually eat in since the kitchen is not eat-in). The world has not ended.
Our kids are 7 and 5, btw. If I had 3-4 kids maybe we would have found the larger house worth it. I definitely like the option of each kid having their own room, for my sanity.
We plan to buy again at some point, but after sampling both sides, we have a very specific wish list. Ranch house with simple roof line (cheap to replace roof, can paint yourself unlike multi-story houses). 3-4 bedrooms, 1.5-2 baths. NEVER MORE THAN 2. CLEANING BATHS SUCKS. We either want that 4th bedroom, or a "den sort of room", or a dry basement. Basically we need somewhere to put the treadmill, which H uses for an hour every day. This will double as playroom, office, guest room, etc.