It's been a looong time since I've tried KDE, but I've generally found that Gnome is better at keyboard only navigation and control, though maybe KDE has gotten better since I last tried it. I also just kinda despise anything that looks like a windows Start menu. It's irrational, I know, but it just seems embarrassing.

OTOH, I do like the idea of the customizability of Plasma, so maybe I'll give it a try some time.