Hey, I totally get where you're coming from.
I went through the same thing with my first portfolio site. I used a free theme and spent weeks trying to make it look good with custom CSS, and it was a nightmare. Honestly, making the switch to a premium theme was the best decision I made. It's not just about looks. You get actual support from the developers, which is huge if you get stuck. Plus, they come with builders like Elementor or WPBakery, so you just drag and drop stuff instead of coding. My site speed even improved because the code was cleaner. You usually get regular updates too, which helps with security. Don't worry too much about switching. Most good themes have documentation on how to migrate. Just make sure to back up your site first.
What kind of features are you missing most right now?
Thanks so much for that info, that's really reassuring.
The drag-and-drop builder sounds like exactly what I need. I'm mostly missing good gallery options for my bakery photos and a better layout for my recipe posts. I'll definitely look at some of the popular themes on marketplaces and check for Elementor support. I appreciate the tip about backing up first, I'll do that.