I'm with you. Maybe it's just that I'm familiar with Unity but GNOME feels like a step back in almost every aspect. On the other hand you can just install KDE

I'm with you. Maybe it's just that I'm familiar with Unity but GNOME feels like a step back in almost every aspect. On the other hand you can just install KDE Plasma that went a long way and works fine if you just stick to the UI - all your pain points should work out of the box or can be configured using systemsettings. KDE applications are a mixed bag - I love dolphin but kmail and other stuff feels strange. Also printing is way better in GNOME apps, not sure why exactly.