Kegging is the way to go. If you do want to bottle you can bottle straight from the keg after the beer clears and ages for a bit. You can also add some perlick faucets to the mix and raise your coolness factor by 100.
Do your research and figure out what you want to brew. When I mean research I mean drink lots of commercial beers and figure out what you really like. I am doing both 5 and 2 gallon brews. If you want to get a recipe that you will enjoy then do 2 gallon batches. I use Mrbeer little brown kegs...
I just ordered a few Mr. Beer fermenting kegs. I like them because they will do as big as 2.5 gallons. Not sure how you damaged these but I'm willing to give it a try for 8 bucks. Got them on the labor day sale. I just want the ease they offer. Easy cleaning, big opening, and built in...