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We've used one for quite a while and I'd say yes although we also make almost all of our bread. I think our breadbox cost 9 dollars and is actually quite attractive.

I have a wooden one that has a sort of roll-top front. Right now I'm using it to store a jumble of office supplies on a shelf.

I use plastic bags for my bread. Don't seal the bread into anything until it's completely cool, or you'll have moisture problems.

Bread gets stale. It's a fact of life. Some lasts longer than others, depending on ingredients. For the bagels, I'd stick them in the freezer, if you're finding that you can't eat them fast enough.

Bread boxes are more attractive than maybe a loaf of bread that's in a bag, but the problem I had was that if a leftover forgotten roll started getting moldy, cleaning the thing was a pain. And if you didn't clean it thoroughly, the next loaf going in would get moldy twice as fast. A plastic one that you could maybe stick in the dishwasher might be better, but I'm fine with bags.

I've had one for as long as I can remember, mostly because I never put the tie back on the bread. As far as that goes, it works well. The bread doesn't get stale and I can continue to be lazy about putting the bread tie back on.

We quite like our bright red breadbox. I don't think it makes much a difference in how long the bread lasts but we like it because it lets us keep things contained but well at hand for toasting and making sandwiches.

For bagels we're not going to eat in a day, we slice them and freeze them. They toast well right from frozen. If you're not going to toast them, then I think leaving them out on the counter or in a breadbox is probably what I'd do, too.

You can freeze bread too. My roommate slices and freezes homemade bread and it seems to toast up alright. And I'm sure that the microwave is taboo for some of the really serious eaters here, but I prefer my bagels chewy rather than toasted (and am too impatient to let them thaw), and you can microwave frozen bagels and it doesn't seem to hurt them. I don't even slice them...they just go whole into the freezer.

We've been considering getting a breadbox because our cat keeps eating our bread! We typically keep ours on top of the toaster in the kitchen, but if we're even an hour late with the nightly canned food ritual, our new cat Basil (recently a stray) will pull down the bread, perforate the bag, and manage to deface about half a loaf before he gets bored. Geez. He looks very smug about it, too. Breadboxes actually don't do much to keep most breads or starchy goods fresh--they were originally invented to keep out nasty varmints. We might need one after all.

LOL at the alternative uses and the cat-protection. But I put homemade bread in plastic produce bags as soon as it's cool. Everything that won't be eaten in the next 2-3 days goes in the freezer. Works fine.