Nexus 7 with CM and other stuff

[Continuum88]

I decided to put CyanogenMod on my Nexus 7 (2013). The main reasons I chose CM were Privacy Guard and the fact that I don't really use many Google applications (other than Earth, YouTube). It's my first custom ROM, though, and I still have a lot to customize and install at this point - so do you think CM is the best choice in my case?

I've also heard I'm supposed to use a custom kernel for CM (right now it's only flashed with cm-10.2.1-flo.zip, probably going to update to M5 today). Which one should I use, and what does it improve?

Last, but not least... Gapps. I went through dozens of threads discussing this, and they mostly revolve around privacy issues/"issues" as well as using alternative markets for installing apps. Like I said, my real question here is -- as I don't really use many of Googles applications, do I need to install Gapps at all? Right now I can think of three apps I would use - Play, Earth, YouTube. I suppose they can be installed separately? Do I need any other, or should the device work without them just fine?

 

[Golfdriver97]

CM isn't a bad choice to start with. Fairly minimal compared to some other custom ROMs.

As for gapps, I would still install them.You won't get the Play store without it. As for other app markets, what do you use?

 

[Continuum88]

I found a customizable GApps package on XDA, but it didn't seem to make much of a difference, so I just used the one available from CM site. I use "disable" button in Settings/Apps for apps I don't use (Hangouts, Gmail...), which is pretty much what I used to do with stock devices. Also, I upgraded CM to M5.
Privacy Guard is definitely the main reason, but I read the permissions can again be tweaked using 3rd party tools on stock from version 4.4.2 on.