I'd like to propose some improvements for Kickoff in the Plasma 5.14 timeframe:
- A new Home tab that shows the most useful elements from other tabs: T9041
- An overhauled Applications tab: T9040
- The ability to badge and highlight newly-installed apps: T7913
- Expose all KRunner plugins: https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=382760
Here are some mockups from the linked sub-tasks: