Message Boards

Try ebay for circulon/analon pans (but pick your seller carefully). I 'won' a five piece analon professional pan set (brand new) for £55.00! Just remember if it seems too good to be true (price wise) it probably is if the seller doesn't have good feedback etc.

These pans are amazing and highly recommended. I believe the analon professional frying pan won the 'best frying pan' test on some cookery programme (think it was Full On Food).

Hiya hay03,
When it comes to pans my favourites are the Circulon range which are usually discounted in the sales in Debenhams (great for family Christmas present requests if you tell them you're prepared to wait until January for your prezzie!)
Having said that I also have an odd selection of other pans as I'm not happy to use metal tools in my circulon pans and I've yet to find a potato masher as good as a stainless steel one! So..... I've also got the odd stainless steel pan too - you can pick them up individually from the supermarket. I personally don't think that at your stage you necessarily need the most expensive - I don't know how experienced a cook you are - but I certainly wouldn't want to ruin an expensive pan when you can least afford to replace it - if you get my drift.
Other than the equipment that rday has recommended I would recommend a balloon whisk - invaluable - especially for rescuing lumpy sauces and a cheap hand whisk - (Tesco do some cheap electricals - great for seeing what you really will use and what you won't). Good luck and keep us posted - I suspect loads of people read but don't contribute to these boards.
Fudgey

You will need a set of good quality pans (as expensive as you can afford), decent knives and a good sharpener. Mixing bowls of different sizes, measuring jug (at least 2 of different sizes), weighing scales, measuring spoons are useful. A selection of oven proof casseroles, baking dishes etc, again of differrent sizes, also roasting tins, baking sheets, rolling pin, cheese grater (also microplane graters are useful). Wooden spoons, fish slices, carving fork, spatulas, tin opener, whisks, tablespoons, dessert spoon, teaspoon will be needed. Other equipment you can gather as you go along, like different sorts of cake tins and other utensils. Buy them whenever your recipe requires them, and soon your kitchen will be well equipped. Try not to gather lots of gadgets unless you are sure you will use them more than once.

Electrical items are not essential as most things can be done without them, but they can be useful if you are short of time. Handheld blenders are good, food processors are handy but if you only have a small kitchen your storage space will be at a premium, and these sort of items take up a lot of space.

Mainly the best advice I can give is buy what you need when you need it, my kitchen is full of stuff I thought would be useful, but that have never been used!