Add me to the list of those who ride with drop bar and never drop. My first road bike had the extra brake levers on my bars. I loved them. In fact I just added a set to my LHT for extra braking power when stopping with a fully loaded trailer.

It does sound like you have your mind made up. But having the extra hand positions available is a real plus. I ride my flat bar mtb on occasion for my commute and my hands do hurt. On the other hand, my daughter has a flat bar road bike and really likes it. My husband added a pair of bar ends that give him an extra place to put his hands on his flat bar bike when we started doing some touring this year. bikerHen