I agree, though Steel Plate should be on the heavy side of the smithing tree, which stops some people from using it since otherwise you have to waste two perks getting to it.
Heavy: Iron, Banded Iron, Steel, Steel Plate, Wolf, Ancient Nord
Light: 4 varieties of Fur, Hide, Leather, Studded.
Unless you can to wear fur armor, there's not much except for exotic (elven/glass/dragon), or specialty (DB/Thieves) light armor. Couple more choices for heavy armor though, but they really like one more "standard" choice for each at least.