Krastorio is to me a Vanilla+ mod. It feels like the base game would if there was just more of it. Depending on your point of view, this could be good or bad. It's still going to be longer than vanilla, and has few truly revolutionary mechanics, but it also doesn't get as awkward as things like angelbob or spaceex.

For what it's worth. K2 is the one modded playthrough I've completed (twice, even) and I would reccommend giving it a try.