I experienced something completely different. I set up a postfix/dovecot/ldap/nginx/roundcube/spam/... for a medium sized office with some special needs last month and was amazed how easy it is. Especially postfix and dovecot are a breeze to work with.

The main problem was, that you can do everything in X different ways and have to think careful which way you want to go.

In addition i am running a very simple private setup for years now without any problems.