For example, I like to press alt>m>a to access SVN blame annotations through file menu using only the keyboard, however if the new find/replace bar is open it intercepts the M and toggles 'match case' instead.

This was not a problem with the previous dialog because you could just shift focus back to the editor and alt>m>a would work fine, but with the bar in the editor it appears there is no way to do this other than closing it. In fact the search bar adds conflicting altkeys for over half (7/12) of my file menu.

Match Case = Team
Whole Words = Window
Regular Expression = Edit
Hightlight Results = Tools
Preserve Case = view
Replace = Run
Next = Navigate

There appears to be no keyboard driven way to close the find bar meaning that it frequently becomes a hindrance once opened.