I have an instance where we want a very short (height-wise) logo + nav bar field. I actually prefer your default of the top of the nav touching the bottom of the logo plane, but if we want them on the same plane . . . how would you suggest we manage that?
If I understand you correctly, you want the logo and nav to be in the same line but with a shortened height for the top header area? The theme options have a menu top margin setting (default is 30px) which you can adjust to be less and therefore the menu moves further up. The setting is on the customizer’s Navigation tab.