Cross bikes make great commuters. I agree about drop bars. One of my bikes had bullhorns, which I liked but they provided nowhere to hide on windy days. So I ended up putting drop bars on that bike as well.

The big issues with using a cross bike for commuting is finding one with the right geometry for you, and also getting one with mounts for fenders and racks. For some reason, a lot of CX frames seem to have short head tubes and long top tubes, which is not my preference. That rules out the Surly and Soma CX frames for me. My CX bike is a Ritchey Breakaway Cross, which fits me perfect and also has fender/rack mounts. Unfortunately, the Ritchey Swiss Cross is strictly racing and has no mounts for fenders and racks.

You might also want to consider some touring frames. The Soma Saga is designed much like a cross bike in many respects, but has fender/rack mounts, stouter tubing and longer chain stays. In contrast, the Soma Doublecross has a much shorter head tube, longer top tube and shorter chain stays. You might also consider the All City Space Horse, which is more of a do-it-all than cross bike but has features similar to the Soma Saga.

I really like the Gunnar Crosshairs as well, but it costs a bit more than the other frames I mentioned. However, you can have it painted just about any color, and it's lighter weight and higher quality than more budget steel CX frames.

I've attached photos of my Ritchey cross and Soma Saga. They ride and fit very similar. If I had to choose one or the other for commuting, I would pick the Soma Saga because it costs quite a bit less and is designed for carrying loads.