First, you need to figure out your price range. It depends on what you want out of the set. Do you want a matching set and not have to buy again? Would you rather start building a set on your own a few knives at a time? Are you going to be sharpening them, or would you take them some place?
Then you should figure out if you want ceramic, stainless, or a harder metal (that could rust due to lower chromium %. Each has pros and cons. The general rule, as I'm sure you know or have figured out, is sharper=more brittle. Ceramic is generally one of the sharpest knives out there, but is very brittle. Also, IIRC you can't self sharpen them easily. Stainless type blades will be less likely to rust obviously, but as mentioned they won't be as hard or a steel which means more sharpening will be required. Lower chromium steels will be sharper and more brittle. Brittle blades will be most likely to chip (especially tips).
Also, there are two main styles of blades. Traditional German/European with your normal bevel edge, and Japanese which usually have a a longer taper to the point.
Personally, I lean towards harder steels and Japanese style. I have Globals (
http://www.yoshikin.co.jp/w/index.html) and love them. I got their Santoku instead of normal chef, which in hindsight I would most likely have preferred the normal chef. Shun (
http://www.kershawknives.com/searchresults.php?search_by=category&search_value=22&brand=shun) are very good as well, but their styling is love/hate. Wusthof (
http://www.wusthof.com/desktopdefault.aspx) are very good as well for the German style (the Ikon are the better line of them, although the Grand Prix II is cheaper and better than most). Henckels higher end stuff is slightly below Wusthof IMHO, but still great blades. Kyocera is your only real option for ceramic.
You should go to a Williams Sonoma and check out most of these in person (they don't have Kyocera, but the rest they do). Figure out what you/your wife like, then order from
http://www.cutleryandmore.com/cutlery.htm or Amazon. Also, don't forget a good cutting board. End grain boards are very nice (they don't dull the blade as much), but as long as it's a wood board you'll be fine. Don't get glass/hard plastic/etc though.