I'm late to the thread, but strangly it still seems to be on topic after four pages (how'd that happen?).

I've got a 2013 Kona Jake as my every day commuter. I like it a lot. The Jake has an aluminum fork, but with fat tires (I use 700x35) that doesn't really matter.

I had a Cross Check, but sold it. I could never get the fit quite right. I blame the short head tube, but fit is a personal thing and if you've ridden the Cross Check and liked it that says a lot more than you can get from words over the Internet.

Cantilever brakes can require a lot of effort to get tuned correctly. V-brakes with Travel Agents work well but they can also be a little tricky to get cabled correctly (though not nearly as bad as cantilevers). Mini-V brakes perform well and are easy to setup, but they limit your fender clearance. V-brakes with long-pull brake levers have no problems whatsoever, unless you count the lack of STI options. Have you considered RetroShift? They make V-brake compatible levers.

The first thing you should know about disc brakes is that mechanical disc brakes with road levers don't give you nearly the kind of performance you usually hear associated with disc brakes. Avid BB7's do pretty good, but they aren't in the same league as even the MTB version of the BB7. They are as good as rim brakes when set up properly. An improperly adjusted disc brake can perform worse than a well adjusted rim brake. Low-end mechanical disc brakes tend to be fairly unimpressive.

The second thing you should know about disc brakes is that most of them squeal horrendously when they get wet. It's not always a bad thing for everyone on the block to know you're there, but it tends to be annoying for the rider.

I've got TRP HY/RD discs on my Jake right now. I went through a rather bumpy process getting them dialed in, but since I have they are the bee's knees. For some people, apparently, they work well right out of the box.

My back-up commuter is a Surly Long Haul Trucker with V-brakes and 8-speed bar end shifters. It uses long-pull road brake levers I alluded to above. The braking is outstanding. I'm an STI guy too, and I wasn't sure I'd like the bar end shifters. They're slightly less convenient to use, but they shift better than anything else I've used. How inconvenient they are mostly depends on your riding style. If you like to sprint, it's an issue. If you ride casually, it's not. The thing I like about the LHT is that it encourages me to relax. It'll go fast if I make it, but I enjoy the ride more if I ease up a bit.

Another nice thing about the LHT (and the Vaya) is that it's available with 26" wheels. If you mentioned your height I didn't see it, so maybe this doesn't matter to you, but for shorter riders 26" wheels tend to make fit and geometry work together better.