I've noticed the Settings panel in the 25.x release was somehow updated. It is still not wonderful (that being said, neither was Word) but it may be worth checking it once more? ;)

FYI: I don't know about you but I've configured Writer once and never had to do it again and my settings have kept working despite the various updates they went through. Also, I remove almost all menu bars and use keyboard shortcuts (+ Styles) to access the things I need... It's less clumsy like that ;)