Death, how about the fridge? Or will all of your youngin's devour the contents within a day?

With what you are running 5k-6k should be enough. When you run the microwave you might need to turn off the AC. But you should be able to make it work.

I noticed in some of your post you were looking at diesels, if you spend the money and go this way get a low speed water cooled unit. The small high speed 3600rpm, air cooled diesels are not as durable as the slower units and you will get worse fuel economy. The fuel economy of the high speed diesels is comparable to the same type of unit that will run on gas. And since diesel cost more per gallon it will be more expensive to run.

Since you are putting a lot of thought, and soon to be money, into this why not get two generators. Yes, this is something else to add to your thinking process, but i am just asking you to think about this. Won't even raise this to the level of suggesting it, but think about purchasing a fair quality generator in the 5-6k range. Do a test run one weekend when you don't need it just so you can see how everything works and what you need to do differently just in case you really need it. Then start saving up for the BIG rig that will run your house and keep everyone fat and happy. After you go for the big one you can sell you little genny or keep it as a spare, just in case the big one doesn't start. You can also use the spare generator as a bargaining chip. After the hurricanes passed though here i loaned my spare generator to next door, yes i am the favorite neighbor, and then handed him all of my empty gas cans. He had a genny and i had gas. Just something else for you to think about.

And don't forget to have four rolls of duct tape to keep the little ones busy, it will use less power than four tv's.