I'm using Nova launcher for mine. It is nice having that extra screen space. With Google Now and touchless controls that big Google Search bar has become rather pointless/redundant. Really more about branding and having Google as one of the first things someone sees on a phone.
I have been using Nova for quite awhile myself. I did purchase the paid version .(Nova Prime)
1) The main reason for me was to hide apps in the app drawer. Those apps that I rarely use .I did that just to clean up the app drawer . I didn't want to totally disable them.
2) Remove Google search bar.