If you're going to use menu buttons for formatting, you could just get rid of the left pane altogether, use it as a WYSIWYG editor and export to markdown. So, yes, in my opinion it is clutter when you don't need it.
The toolbars and status bar can both be hidden under the View menu.
That's nice, although I mantain my point.
I'd like to add that, despite my bitterness, I appreciate having this on windows too, so congrats/thanks for the app :)