Here are recommendations in order of my personal preference.

1. Visit local shelters and/or their web sites. Actually look at the cats. Quite often, if you keep an open mind, a particular cat will speak to you in its own way. I have seen this happen so many times in my rescue group.

2. Contact specific breed rescues. Yes, people DO spend over a K on a kitten, then the first time it messes outside the litter box or picks a chair, they give it up, usually on some bogus pretext.

3. Contact a breeder (get references and history from vets, etc.) about a retired stud or queen. Sometimes those might not be socialized well, so watch out.

4. (In my opinion) As a last resort, see a breeder about a kitten. Many breeders have mandatory spay/neuter contracts, unless you plan on showing the cat in a show class where it must be intact to compete.

STAY AWAY from petstores selling kittens!

Good luck, and welcome to Pet Talk, the most addictive pet site on the Internet.