Option 7 on my list (or a reasonable facsimile thereof) is easily doable right now with existing technology and a little ingenuity. In fact, I have such a system running in my home today.
  1. THE EQUIPMENT
    1. a mid 2011 Mac mini (hereafter referred to as server) running Catalina (that started life with a Fusion drive but now has a 500GB SSD and a 2TB HD internally)
    2. two external HDs
    3. three printers
    4. scanner
    5. a plethora of Home devices
    6. all connected via USB 3.0, TB1, and ethernet.
  2. CONFIGURATION
  3. MANAGEMENT
    • Since the Server is both remote and headless, I use Screens 4 on either my Mac or IPad to manage the Server but Finder on the Mac is almost as good.
  4. DEVICE ACCESS
    • Printers appear on my Local Area Network (LAN) as bonjour devices and can be attached using System Preferences > Printers & Scanners on the Mac just as if they were physically connected. On the iPad I have to use an app appropriate to the specific printer
    • Disk Drives require logging onto the server but after that they are just another drive albeit a touch slow.
If you don't have a Mac mini lying around, they are available used on ebay for under $100 in a configuration adequate to the task.

If we knew what it was we were doing, it wouldn't be called research, would it?

— Albert Einstein