I am always either happy or sad to be at this airport. I'm either visiting or leaving friends or - the worst - connecting flights with my face pressed sadly on the glass wishing I were seeing my friends.
Yeah, there are things not to like about the airport but all the complaints about airports are the same so let's reconsider what we're moaning about. Security? The fact that they're always in the worst in terms of getting in and out of them? The fact that airlines always put connecting flights at opposite ends of the terminals? That's every airport.
Sky Harbor has great shopping, great places to eat, it's arranged in a way that isn't confusing, and it's generally pretty clean. You can ask more of an airport but you're not going to get it.