Head to William Sonoma in Chinook if you want to deal retail locally.
All-Clad Stainless 12-Inch Fry Pan
8" chef's knife from Henckels (nothing that says international on it), or Wusthof.
All-Clad 4 Quart Casserole with lid (use this as a stock pot)
Any old wooden chopping block with a lip
That should get you pretty well setup for kitchen cooking. Anything else is bonus.
Cast iron stuff is heavy and expensive, but sure is nice. I really don't like non-stick pans. I find that they really aren't all that non-stick, and you can't scrub them too hard when they do stick haha. Plus you're not supposed to use non-stick with high heat, and the wife and I mostly cook on max heat.
Someday we may need to activate the halo structure off Deerfoot and destroy the North East.