I like to read both styles in books, though most of all I enjoy the high fantasy of Tolkien.
But to me, D&D is meant for Swords & Sorcery. HF to me is about a storybook approach, an epic feel and characters who become world-saving heroes. S&S is about mercenary adventurers who follow their occupation because they are socially irresponsible, misfits, or too proud to get a regular job.
In Tolkien, Samwise would rather be gardening, Aragorn would rather be ruling, Legolas would rather be having a picnic, Frodo would rather things went back to normal, etc. "Adventures" are overrated and bothersome to these people... they go on them because they're the good guys who step up and do what is right even when it is painful.
Contrast to Conan. Would he rather give up his cycle of defying death to gain a fabulous treasure that he immediately blows on chicks and lotus and get a day job? Nope. He only becomes a king later in life when he's slowing down a bit, and the opportunity presents itself. And it's not like being a king is really having a job anyway. No, Conan is gifted, but he's not a model citizen.
I think D&D is designed for S&S because of the original XP mechanic: you get XP for finding gold. Why do you get XP for finding gold? Because that's your job. That's what you do for a living instead of being a peasant. You rob tombs and justify it by noting that since the inhabitants were all undead, they were probably jerks in the first place. You're an "adventurer"... that means that instead of working for a living, you scavenge wealth from the forgotten places, places men with less backbone and more work ethic prudently avoid.
The XP-for-gold mechanic wasn't a mistake, an oversight or lazy design. It was a clear signal as to what the game was about: getting loot and eventually carving out a place for yourself among the mighty (i.e. hitting Name level and building a stronghold).
That's the "story" of D&D: a bunch of self-serving adventurers mount an expedition (like an old-time archaeo-treasure-swiping expedition) to the lost city/cavern/whatever to plunder it of whatever cool old stuff it has; these mercenaries will brave its many dangers in hopes of gaining wealth and power. Monsters? If there are any, hopefully we can avoid/evade/trick/blitzkrieg them before they can threaten us. Or maybe they can eat our porters while we high-tail it out of the lair. Saves us having to pay them when we get back to civilization.
That's not to say that I think people shouldn't be allowed to play HF with D&D. Only that I think that S&S should be the core style of D&D, because I think it was originally intended to be so.
