Question: Is there a command or better yet a setting in the config file to allow me to open konsole (the KDE terminal emulator) in fullscreen mode?

Answer: 
You can open Konsole in fullscreen mode with `konsole --fullscreen` (That should work only with KDE 4.11 and newer).

However, I assume that you want to be able to open Konsole in fullscreen mode with just clicking icon somewhere, maybe in taskbar. To achieve that, do the following steps:

1. Copy `/usr/share/applications/konsole.desktop` to either

	* `/usr/share/applications/konsole-custom.desktop` (in case you have root rights)or

	* `~/.local/share/applications/konsole-custom.desktop` (in case you don't have root rights. Also, remember to check that this directory is in your `$PATH`, and if it's not, add it there).
2. Replace the line `Exec=konsole` with `Exec=konsole --fullscreen` in the file you just copied.
3. To place that just created Konsole "launcher" to KDE's taskbar, just drag the `.desktop` file you just created from the Dolphin window to taskbar.

Then click the launcer, and Konsole should open in fullscreen mode.
What about [Yakuake](http://yakuake.kde.org/)? You can set its size to 100% and it will go full screen when you press `F12`.
Alternately you can `CTRL` + `ALT` + `F1`-`F6` to switch consoles `CTRL` + `ALT` + `F7` should take you back to KDE (this depends on your configuration).