@ryan With Blocky, it's a single yaml config file which configures everything. It is stateless, and stores no persistent data, so you can run as many replicas as you want without any issue. Makes it a much better fit for running in K8S imo.
I think blocky does have some fewer features than Pi-Hole, but nothing I was using in the first place. I'm using it similar to you, for my kid's devices, and stop "smart" devices from calling home when possible
@ryan I was running Pi-Hole on #K8S, and while it works, I've never found it ideal mainly because Pi-Hole uses a database for configuration and storing the adlists etc. There are some config values that can be specified via environmental variables, but most configuration is done via the GUI and stored in SQLite databases.
Because of this, it doesn't support any form of HA. While not really necessary for home, I like HA where possible, especially when it is so easy with K8S!