Ubuntu Mate is not standard Ubuntu. I agree with you on the gnome desktop. But have you tried Ubuntu Mate? I used both Mint Mate and Ubuntu Mate which is community driven. You can barely see the difference. Not saying Mint doesn't have some nice features, like the kernel manager, but Ubuntu Mate does too, like the Ayatana indicators actually work. You really should try Ubuntu Mate. The best part of Ubuntu Mate is definitely the forum. The one thing I found better about Mint was Clem's refusal to cave to snaps but I have found that easy enough to avoid here.
This post can show you the versatility of the Ubuntu Mate Desktop. There was a shot of someone that had all their icons in the upper taskbar, easy enough to move to the bottom but I can't find that right now.