> No! No. No LVM! Bad admin, no biscuit!
> [...]
> *Bad* admin. Where's my squirt bottle?

Yeah, I wrote "if you're a slice-and-dicer" for a reason.  One big root is a fine option, but it's not the situation I was imagining where one is concerned with shrinkability.  I think having hard limits on the growth of certain subtrees can be helpful, and sometimes different mount options.  I'm Kickstarting rather than imaging, so I don't have a problem including the hostname in the name of the Volume Group.  Everyone has different objectives (and I'm skeptical lack of LVM would have adequately protected you from your predecessors' and colleagues' :)).