So I am settled on Debian (Sid) as my main Linux Distro. One issue I am having, though, is finding a good DE.

KDE - Aesthetically nice, but too bloated.
Gnome 3 - Interesting idea and I'm excited to see where its going to go, but not ready for everyday use.
XFCE - Lean and fast DE, but ugly as heck. Tried theming but its difficult and I am by no means a designer. Looks isn't everything, but coding in an ugly environment distracts me.

Any other suggestions to check out? Basically, I'm looking for a DE that looks somewhat nice, while being lean. I also like where opening downloaded files from Chrome "just works." An example of that is when I tried fluxbox, I would have to open a terminal and manually open the file from there. I like when KDE/Gnome knows automatically how to open the file directly from the browser.

Thanks for any suggestions.

Deleted

Next on your list is LXDE.

I'm a little baffled by this remark. With a little work xfce can be made to look identical to a gnome 2.3 system, without the gnome bloat. Granted, the GUI tools for doing so aren't there, but it's not what I would call difficult, just a little harder.

I use Fluxbox. It is extremely plain out of the box, but can be made to look quite nice.

You can see some of my Fluxbox desktops (and some of my others) here.

Openbox is quite nice too.

I like my Xfce4.8 under Debian testing. Version 4.6 which is under Squeeze is not quite as easy to customize but not too bad.

Looks like my Gnome2 panel desktop but with only one panel as I can do without the second one in Xfce. Just a better panel.

Inspiration and eye candy:

http://xfce-look.org/

XFCE is good, but there's a weird thing with XFCE 4.8 where if you use Compiz Fusion, you can't change the window decoration (maybe it was just me). That said, it runs very well.

I have to disagree with the OP - Gnome 3.2 is ready for everyday use, as I use it every day and it's not let me down yet.

I use Gnome 3.2 as my workhorse and love it. I also use LXDE, XFCE, E17 (have used E16), Fluxbox, and MATE. I haven't found any of these to be difficult to use.

I dislike KDE but that's just me, I'm sure it is a good DE but it's just not to my liking.

I guess I'm just picky. I'm experimenting with Openbox right now and it seems to work pretty good.

I tried theming XFCE but I found it difficult because panels and windows were themed differently. Maybe I just haven't found the right themes yet.

As far as Gnome 3.2, I do like it, but I find it annoying having to open the shell to do anything. I would just prefer to have the quick list of apps on the left side of the desktop so I don't have to open the activities first. Obviously its not a huge deal, its only the flick of the mouse or an extra press of the keyboard, but it's those little things that make or break it for me. I'm trying to escape from the Windows world, not transfer to another just like it.

You can install a dock for that "quick list of apps" you know. Nothing is insurmountable you need to take the time to try things out.

There is also an extension that puts the "favorites" up on the upper panel.

If you like desktop icons and a little eye candy, I suggest staying with XFCE. Although some things cannot be changed, such as the background colour of the file manager, window appearance can be tweeked quite nicely. Adding shadows to the windows gives them a three-dimensional look, especially pop-up boxes.

If you care more for function than form, I suggest continuing to experiment with Openbox. Provided one has enough knowledge, which I do not, literally anything can be done with it. I have created two themes that look better than anything I have seen on bloated, full-fledged DEs.

So far OpenBox has been very cool to play with. I plan to keep experimenting with it and hopefully will get it the way I like. Thanks for all the help!