Re: Skeuomorphism
I've used KDE in the past and quite liked it, but the way they handle screen drawing makes it a no-go for X2Go clients, which are necessary from time to time as "extra users" in my testing (specifically, I have an X2Go client configured for 1080p resolution for simulating client systems that displays quite nicely in a window on my much higher resolution desktop.)
My personal favorite is Mate. Simple, effective, uncluttered, and easy to customize as much as I want or need to (which isn't much. I'm not into a bingy-boingy-flashing desktop)