How flexible is Genesis?

[JonLoomer]

Here is my dilemma...

There are several child themes that interest me, but I feel like there isn't one that does everything I want. I love the homepage format of Sleek, but it doesn't have a footer widget or search box. I like the way Streamline and Generate make email collection prominent, but I don't like how they don't have a true home page. There are other examples as well. I'd essentially like to combine the features I love of a few different child themes into one that is perfect for me.

So my question...

Is there an easy way to add a footer widget to Sleek? Or add a widget above the main content for data collection? Or change the home page format of another theme? I'm not talking about hardcoding either. I want to keep the simplicity of having widgets that I can easily update instead of going into .php files to do it.

Maybe there is an obvious answer to this for people who have purchased Genesis. I haven't yet, and this flexibility will help me determine whether or not I should.

I know some code, but I'm by no means a programmer. So keep that in mind.

Thanks so much for your help!