Indeed, you can use it to steam vegetables. Honestly, I think you are making the right move. For the vast majority of recipes that us a rice cooker, I think it will do a great job.
I must use the thing 4-5 times a week and it is totally reliable.
The current best selling rice cooker brand in South Korea is Cuckoo. My mom swears by it. They should be widely available over here, too.
Apparently (and I have nothing to back this up other than people’s say-so), Korean cookers operate at a slightly different pressure than Japanese cookers and will produce rice of a slightly different consistency.