I guess it depends on your definition of cherish. I get all my commuter bikes from the local scrapyard, paying roughly 30 cents a pound. I build them into fairly minimalist commuters that fit a variety of needs. I've got the rainy commuter, the snow commuter, the ice commuter, the summer commuter. They all get maintained, since I don't want a breakdown enroute, but I wouldn't say any are cherished. I tend to give one or two of them away each year as soon as I have another in the wings. My coworkers call me the bike missionary as I am always encouraging others to start bike commuting.

tl:dr, no, I don't cherish the commuter bikes, they are almost disposable purpose built vehicles.