EDIT: In new versions of Nautilus, just press "Shift-Ctrl-N"
In Nautilus (tried with version 3.22), for folder creation, you can press F10
and the space
, or click in the new folder button (see screenshot).
The other workaround is to press Ctrl+1
and Ctrl+2
to switch quickly between List and Grid view.

I agree this is a very annoying problem.
UPDATE: In Gnome 3.30.5, this solution doesn't work anymore because no window-menu has the "New Folder" action.
However there are now better options.
1) Deselect any file (with Ctrl-Space) if necessary.
2) Press Shift-F10, and the contextual menu will appear
3) Select "New Folder"
Another, yet simpler option is to
1) Just press "Shift-Ctrl-N" to create a new folder