I know it’s very frustrating. 
Most smart home products work fine with their own gateway/hub. And some platforms, like apple’s Homekit, require a certification for every device, which simplifies integration, but limits the total number of devices available to choose from.
Because smartthings is a multiprotocol platform, it uses its own abstraction layer a level above the device’s protocol which makes integration a lot more complicated. So you tend to get a much wider selection of devices, but fewer features on a lot of them.
(A good example is the Aeotec Wallmote Quad 4 Button Device. It’s designed by the manufacturer recognize tap, long press, slide up, and slide down on each of the four zones. But the official smartthings integration only recognizes tap and long press.)
There’s no question that it’s annoying. Sometimes community members are able to come up with custom code that gives access to more of a Device’s features, sometimes not.
All of which is to say home automation itself can be pretty much plug and play if you are willing to choose a platform with a more limited set of devices and Automation options. If you want the versatility of the smartthings platform, you pay for that with a lot more frustration.
So far, the IKEA shortcut button is not working well with SmartThings for a lot of people. But the less expensive “dimmer“ button seems to work well if you just use it as an on/off button. ( The dimming function doesn’t work.) I don’t know if that’s of any interest to you or not.
I just started a new FAQ last week for battery operated devices that have been demonstrated to work with the current platform. I haven’t added the shortcut button to that because multiple people were reporting problems with it. 