Replacing Applets With UI5 - Fine Tuning

We are attempting to replace our Java applets with the SAPUI5 technology.  We are starting by trying to replace igrid applets with i5grids.  We are running into issues fine tuning the appearance and we are wondering if others have had similar problems and, if so, how they have dealt with it.

For example, using the i5grid display template we cannot make the row height small enough.  The row height seems to hit a point where the display template no longer effects it.  Anything below 23px causes it to use 28px.

To get fine control over the appearance it seems like you have to resort to overriding css styles like these:

               // This overwrites the height of the row
                .sapUiTableCtrl tr{
                                height: 5px;
                }
               
                // This overwrites the height of a label in a  row
                .sapUiLbl {
                                line-height: 14px;
                }

                // This reduces the amount of padding in a table cell
                .sapUiTableCell {
                                padding-left: 2px;
                }

                // This reduces the amount of padding in a table column
                .sapUiTableCol {
                                padding-top:2px;
                }

                ...

We were hoping to avoid this technique because it seems like it could prevent a maintenance issue down the road.  Is there a better way to do this?  Is this how most people are handling it?

Thank you,

Mike