That's strange, because in my time using Fedora it was far and away the most vertically integrated Linux distro I've ever used.

It had the fewest Linux-typical papercuts, it was well-documented, and most importantly required the least amount of system tinkering I've ever done on Linux, allowing me to use my operating system to actually operate my system. It wasn't as turnkey as macOS, wasn't as compatible as Windows, and wasn't as "tinker" friendly as other distros, but it _worked_.

Then again, I was using the default GNOME spin, and I also try to meet OS's in the middle instead of brazenly insisting on my way or the highway. But it _is_ used as a base for RHEL, so it's not like Fedora is a typical stone soup distro either.

This is my experience too, I distrohopped for about 2-3 years, and then when I found fedora it just clicked. I've been using it exclusively ever since. It was my first experience with vanilla GNOME and like you I wanted to meet the OS in the middle. The stability while still having reasonably up-to-date packages is so pleasant and everything felt like it was part of a whole in a way that my prior experimentation with arch and its derivatives and the different ubuntu skins didn't fully achive.