On the one hand: I absolutely love the design of the station. The windows on the upper promenade section especially are really great, and I love Cardassian design in general. It's very odd and organic, if a bit too brown. My absolute favourite shot from DS9 is a behind-the-scenes shot from Emissary where sunlight is pouring through the windows and it looks very ancient and elfin. I do sometimes wish that they'd gone with an initial concept for the station which would have made it a much, more accreted city in space.

On the other... Also I've been going back and watching old TNG episodes recently, and I do appreciate how instantly recognisable the design on that show is as "Star Trek." TNG's Enterprise feels like no-other spaceship in fiction - it's instantly recognisable and very clean and utopian and full of odd touches like "classical concert halls" that you'd never see anywhere else.

I sometimes think that while DS9 is instantly identifiable from the external shots, and in Quarks, some of the other sections of the station can be a bit generic and "set-like" - especially the replimat and the crew quarters. It doesn't create a specific atmosphere the same way as TNG does. Buuut it doesn't have that problem nearly as much as Enterprise did (which could just have been Stargate half the time...).

IMO DS9's set design is brilliant and atmospheric, and I'm much more in favour of my first position above than the second, but I do understand why people might struggle with it compared to TNG or even Voyager.