I'm in love with magnetic knife strips, like the Norpro Magnetic Knife Bar. Complicated acrilic thing with many parts to break or have to clean? I think not...

But she just said that not all were metal, so a magnetic option won't work...

You could use The Ex Knife Holder.

http://www.thinkgeek.com/homeoffice/kitchen/86dd/

I'm still looking for any knife block that will take a handful of Chinese cleavers. I don't think I can get away with not using a magnetic strip.

Magnetic knife strip—don't show the non-metal knives. They can't be that great if they're not metal anyway.

I have a damascus patterned knife from Kyocera made of black ceramic. It looks lovely enough for display and cuts like a dream. If it were made of anything else, though, I'd have to agree. Metal all the way.

I love the miyabi magnetic. It's surface is wood.
http://www.miyabi.eu

Do you need to have the non-metal knives available to use at a moment's notice? If not, a "civil war" type display case might be nice on the wall or on a plate stand on a shelf. Like this one: http://www.customdisplays.com/civil-war-display-cases.html

Thanks for the help everyone!

It is, indeed, the beautiful ceramic knives that are giving me the problem. I love them as an alternative, since they cut as beautifully as they look, but it means the magnetic knife strip won't work.

I don't love the acrylic option, but it seems to be the best of the bunch right now.

i made this a few weeks ago for my knives with some scrap wood:
Without knives and
Mounted with knives

StaticFritz, that is beautiful and mountain cabin rustic.
any chance you would post a how to on Instructibles?