As it happens I redid all of my home network recently with new routers (the old ones were becoming flaky after several years of use).
I use OpenWRT on all my routers, so my main criteria included, apart from range and speed, OpenWRT compatibility and ease of updating the firmware.
I ended up choosing the WD MyNet N600HD; it's an older and discontinued model, but you can still find it on amazon.com. Has good wireless range, dual band, and you can also use it easily as wired router. I personally use one of them as my main router, and 2 others distributed strategically through the house as wireless repeaters.
I also use a few other small "travel" routers, also flashed with OpenWRT, as wireless clients to provide access to my home wifi to some devices I have that don't have built-in wifi. Those are some cheap Chinese WT3020 boxes; they're small and easy to conceal, and as wireless clients provide each 2 wired ports locally.
I/O, I/O,
It's off to disk I go,
With a bit and a byte
And a read and a write,
I/O, I/O