This has been true for me as well. KDE always looks awesome from afar. For a long time, I would get pretty excited about the fanfare for its next release, thinking this will be the one that hooks me, for sure.

Then I actually use it, and its a giant, sloppy mess. I always appreciate the gnome team's drive to simplify and reduce, after I try KDE (though I agree with many, in that they go too far sometimes).