KDE used to look ugly comparing to Gnome. Now it's fine but still worse.
KDE offers plenty of shiny things that I don't like and need - graphical effects, application menu, widgets.
Most of the time I have a terminal and browser full screen and all I need is cmd key that triggers search and allows me to enter the name of the application I want to run and hit enter. Gnome is much cleaner, simpler and logical to use.
KDE is extremely customizable. A recent update added a floating taskbar (on a new install - upgraded installs keep the old behavior), like everyone else has. However, you can change it easily, and I even discovered some more customizability I didn't know existed. I can have an icon-only taskbar like Windows, or I can have the full title.
Everything in KDE is like that. You can follow the trends, or stick to the tried and true, or come up with your own style.
> cmd key that triggers search and allows me to enter the name of the application I want to run and hit enter.
Yes, I do this in KDE all the time.
Many people use their computer for a use case that's not "single application taking up the entire screen.", and KDE works better for them than GNOME. I'm not sure what's hard to understand about that. There's no objectively correct way to use a computer, it's a preference thing.