As a player on Steam Deck/controller, I'm a big fan of removing the crafting grid.
Crafting grids are a fun mini-game when using a mouse, and it can help make games popular by having secret recipes that friends share with each other and with Minecraft it caused the creations of many Youtube tutorials and wiki sites, so there are pros that don't improve the game per se but things outside the game that are about the game.
...but on a controller it's a pain. Valheim requires just having the ingredients and it was sich a breath of fresh air, I support gridless crafting.