TWRP 101: How to Make a NANDroid Backup & Restore Your Entire Phone « Android :: Gadget Hacks
It allows you to customize the theme, UI/UX, Icons, Notification Panels and way more things as compared to the stock ROM. You can disable apps in settings, be sure that they do not show up in the app drawer. You can also hide apps depending firmware files upon the user interface or launcher, but like