I run every possible desktop environment. I found that best thing to do is to
install Ubuntu and then add Kubuntu. However, I recently learned that Kubuntu as
far as 8.10 goes is KDE 4. If you want KDE 3 then you have to choose KDE. As you
said less work seems to go into Kubuntu which is why I install Ubuntu with Gnome
first instead of Kubuntu. With other distros I start with what they specialize
in and then add the others on my own. If it is a KDE distro then I add Gnome
afterwards.

All of this depends on your habits and the amount of HD space you have. If you
are limited with time, bandwidth of drive space then you should instlal whatever
you are bound to use first. You get different packages depending on whether you
install KDE or Kubuntu and the same could be said for Ubuntu and Gnome (plus
Xubuntu and XFCE). You lose all of the look and feel, plus some Gnome packages
are substituted for in Ubuntu.