Why get a chef's knife or santoku if I don't eat meat?
Even for meat eaters, almost all knife work is done on vegetables.  Santukos and chef's knives are general purpose knives, with great utility on vegetables.  Chinese cleavers are also general purpose knives, the functional equivalent in that culture to the chef's knife.

The advice offered to you in this question:

Which knife is best for somone just learning to cook?

does not change simply because you are a vegetarian.