recommend kitchen utensils  

My top three picks would...
My top three picks would be:
1. Eva Trio http://www.evadenmark.dk/547
2. WMF http://www.wmf.com/
3. Cuisipro http://www.cuisipro.com/
I have products from all three. Eva Trio offers the cleanest and most coherent look of the lot, while the other two seem a bit sturdier and more professionally oriented, especially WMF. They should all hold up well to daily use. The Eva Trio range of pans is very nice too, see below link.
They all come with contemporary looks, so if you want something more vintage looking these may not fit your bill.
For traditonally designed knives, I would recommend Sabatier. If you want a more modern appareance, there are many good choices, including Global and WMF.
http://www.davidmellordesign.com/acatalog/Eva_Trio.html

When it comes to Kitchen stuff
I wouldn't let design control your purchases. Most people have a quality medium-to-high-end chefs/kitchen supply store in your city (we have two here in Minneapolis-St. Paul). I went to one, Kitchen Window, and simply looked around. Most of the products they carry are well designed for the task at hand.
For example, I wanted a stand alone baker's storage rack and after looking at their beautiful, expensive stuff, I settled on Metro Shelving.
I had some Circulon wisks, spatulas and spoons, but I bought a couple of spatulas that were slender and quite nicely designed.
So, when in doubt, go to a specialist store and ask an expert. (They turned me on to Swiss diamond cookware too.)

Some random recs
Microplane grater/zester
Kuhn Rikon julienne peeler
Global knives
Mortar & pestle (I use a marble set, not sure what is the "best" though)
Stainless steel "soap" (for odor removal)
Rice paddle

For Knives, I have collected
a set of Wusthof Classic knives with the white handles. They're still being made in Germany, but the classic white are not being distributed much in the US. Check out the nifty special order knife block Wusthof makes (that I had to buy):

I got the majority
of my kitchen equipment at restaurant supply stores.

Riki, that is a fantastic...
Riki, that is a fantastic stove, and a great way to store those pots and pans. Ready to use! As far from a show-off kitchen as one can get. Sourcing restaurant supply stores is a great tip as well. Thanks for sharing.

My take on it..
When it comes to wooden spoons, I always liked what Jens at Scanwood does but my friend Tom Littledeer probably makes the finest maplewood utensils on the North American market (you find them at Williams-Sonoma) As far as knives are concerned Zwilling AG is without any doubt the better kife. Sabatier is not bad, but Solingen seems to hold on to the title of capital of knife making. I have always liked Eva Trio, not only because of it's colourful designer Ole Palsby, but it had this convincing simplicity. When it came on the marked we worked hard to get it on the Canadian market, and for a while it worked but the quality is just not there. I would say: more style than substance. It would be too long to explain in detail but in cookware I am sure that nobody has reached the level of quality of the Belgian manufacturer Demeyere (they recently had an exhibition of their products in the Design Museum in Gent(Belgium). Contrary to the choice Riki is displaying with talent, I would avoid riveted handles in cookware. It is a nuisance for cleaning and even the very best ones loosen after a while. WMF makes fine utensils and so does Cuisipro, but I like the comfort of GoodGrips and their kind of attention to function is still an exception in the industry.

...and on Swiss Diamond
...pans please consult first...
http://www.naturalnews.com/021059.html

Calphalon
Koen, I'm going to have to respectully disagree. My pots are mostly Calphalon and have survived catering for thousands of people for 13 years. Most of them are 15-20 years old and look and work as well as they did when they were new. I will admit they have to be washed by hand and not in the dishwasher but that's the only drawback.
When we renovated the kitchen in the 90's I was doing alot of catering and that's the reason I have all commercial equipment. We installed a walk-in fridge and a commercial freezer where the original pantry was. The ladder you see hanging on the wall next to the freezer is designed to attach all around the room on the stainless steel bar that you see mounted at about the 8 ft. height so you can reach the upper cabinets because the ceilings are over 11 feet high.
Gustaf, the stove is a commercial Garland and required the brick surround to meet the building codes because the pilot lights stay on all of the time, as opposed to a residential version of the same stove which doesn't (but costs about 8000 USD more!).

barry, I don't follow your...
barry, I don't follow your reasoning, unless by design you mean purely aesthetical design. That should obviously not be the only concern.
koen, I forgot all about Zwilling, who by all accounts makes some of the best knives there are. I only wish there was less writing on them. There are small novels on some of them. Reminds me of the latest Rolex watches. Silly. But I guess Zwilling is no worse than many others. Btw, while we are on the subject of knife making cities, Seki, Japan could be also mentioned. Hattori and Masahiro are two well respected brands that still (I think) make their knives in Seki.
I can see your point about the excellent ergonomics of the Oxo Good Grips, but I am not a fan of their looks or materials. For something that I will see and use on a daily basis, that is more than important. I really wish they could have used natural materials like wood and metal over rubber and plastic. And that rubbery surface, while offering excellent grip, seems like a poor choice of material for a kitchen utensil. It makes me think it will attract dirt and dust, be hard to clean, and lose or gain its stickiness over time. I am not saying that it will or that it is a poor choice of material, just that it *looks* like a poor choice. I find the Bahco wrench a good example of a design that works around such concerns, in this case by cutting the rubberised grip short, exposing the metal underneath. I admit all this is superficial, but I need to feel good about the everyday objects I use, and the Good Grips simply don't do that for me.
That was an interesting and slightly worrying verdict on Eva Trio's quality. I will take your word for it, although I haven't experienced any problems with the few items I have so far (including riveted handles). Then again, I doubt any of it will outlast my Le Creuset cookware. It is simply fantastic! Now I must look up Demeyere. This brand is new to me.

Riki, thanks for the info....
Riki, thanks for the info. I am ready to move in! I will be waiting for your call. Actually, from the photos I've seen your house is so big you probably wouldn't even notice. Which reminds me of that Japanese woman that managed to live in a man's closet for a year. Did you all read about that? Creepy.
Edit: I had to find the story. Here it is:
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/expats/expats_news/article1228...

As far as Swiss diamond goes
I went into my gourmet kitchyen supply store looking for an excellent non-stick egg fry pan. They suggested Swiss Diamond, and I've had my pan for over a year and it works great. I only use wooden spoons and plastic or nylon spatulas and turners on the pan. Anyone who would scrap any kind of non-stick pan with a metal fork is gonna find damage.
I have put my pan into the dishwasher many times, although I have started hand washing it, becauuse the dishwashing chemicals really are a bit harsh.
I took the diamond angle to mean that they use diamond dust to add strength to their sprayed surface.
So, other than the bottom of my pan has gotten grotty and I can't figure out how to get it clean, I've had no problem with my Swiss Diamond pan...indeed I have bought two other sizes since. They have nice glass lids with a turnable steam exhaust in the handle.
Now, about my other issue about design, buy what works - trying to keep the design look nice - but only buy kitchen products that work, rather than those that look beautiful and don't do the task.
Oxo is nicely designed and most of their stuff works well. Same goes for Circulon and Chalphalon utensils.
Is the standard French wooden spoon considered "good design"?

Scary story
Gustaf, that is a really weird story and I am creeped out. The crazy thing is that we DO have three bedrooms and one bathroom up on the top floor that no one ever, ever goes in. Those rooms are not even heated or cooled and if you were up there, we would never, ever know. So now I am going to have to periodically go up there and check for stalkers and Gustaf. But, Gustaf, those were originally the house slave bedrooms, so I think I will just leave you up there and let the ghosts get you!

I'm heartened to see that no-...
I'm heartened to see that no-one here is recommending silly electronic gadgets, just good hand tools.
I'm a reasonable cook (I think) and other than a few things like Rosti bowls and a stick blender I manage to make pretty good food with a minumum of tools in the kitchen, good knife skills will get you 90% of the way, there are so many things like garlic crushers which are fiddly to clean and just not worth the hassle.
Anyway there is a duck in my parents oven I should go look at!