Hi Ian.  What has not been mentioned regarding this is that 2 deep chambers
commonly comprise the brood nest (in the north anyway), so we are talking
about 18 combs total.  The queen rarely lays in the outside frames, so even
with 14 combs there is plenty of room for the brood and food stores.
 
I do know some folks here in NY who use just 9 frames in
single-brood-chamber colonies.  In fact, when they do the math, they come
up with a good queen only needing *7* deep combs for laying, if they are of
good quality.  By the time she uses up the space, bees are emerging and
empty cells are available again.  So they don't worry about lack of comb
space, and their honey crops certainly don't seem any worse for it. --jwg