hard to just tell you which one to go for, it might work for cars but kayaks are like shoes, the same pair can be heaven for someone but hell on earth for others.
whats your experience exactly its the first thing: what kind of kayaks you really used in the past, what kind you just tried and in which conditions. Remember that impressions and requirements change with time, with a lot of crappy plastic tubs its easy that the first impressions will be that it goes where it wants and it takes forever to go from here to there and its tiring and the butt, back and knees hurt. The consequence its to look for something that goes from A to B fast and easily. After awhile you could realize that you would want something you can even play around with, from just a little to a lot.
Most designs out there have plenty enough of speed, most of the people that sits in them will never paddle at that speed for a long time, its up to you to know where you fall, and if you paddle in a group your athletic conditions are still relative.
So be careful of being sure about what you want, will you always paddle alone breaking distance records or youll find that eploring, goofing around with your buddies its fun? Or do you plan on having two different kayaks? Are you sure its speed and not efficiency you look for?

Sometimes storage room at home and transportation are issues to take in account too.

Carrying ability depends a lot on your packing habits, you want to bring all the comforts when youre out or are you a minimalist?

Is there a reason to prefer a stripper over a S&G or SoF (could be simply look or maybe you dont want to use marine ply...)?

From what you say you want id give a good look to baidarkas, but to make a real choice you have to go to every store in your area and try different kinds, preferably not alone, but with someone more experienced that can make you try things other than just going across and coming back (is there a club closeby?). Even if just commercial designs they will make you understand what is the behaviour you prefer. If you did that already then tell which are the ones you liked best.

The more you look for the "best" design the more you find, so putting pro and cons on paper can help too (something like the comparison tables that some sites offer).

Good hunt.