I received some very comprehensive and detailed answers about this from Jon at Kona tech support. Main problem was, I did not have the 2K crop function set in the Kona Control panel (for 1920×1080), which disallowed a secondary format conversion for my monitor output. When I set this, I was able to see 1080psf 23.98 (and theoretically secondary converted 525i29.97). This was also the reason I was unable to see the effect of the Custom LUT on any of my monitors (Source material for color conversion must be RGB, i.e. the frame buffer in the Kona Control Panel must read as RGB for the Custom LUT window to have an effect).
This may just have been one of the best product support experiences I have ever had.