stevesdigicams.com is my go to site for purchasing cameras. I've bought maybe 6 over the last 4 years (for various people, recommended) Look for their buyer's guide. To read the reviews, there's a hell of a lot you have to know. But, if you're into photography enough to buy a dSLR, you should probably know most of that stuff.
Nikon and Canon are gonna be the 2 most popular (and probably best quality) dSLR brands out there.
I bought me a Nikon just because I like the way they look better than the Canon's. They're both good makers, so I didn't care. I just bought the one in the price range that I liked the way it looked.
I remember when I was first buying this stuff, it took me awhile to notice you don't have to buy the lens kit with the camera. You can just find the cameras bare. If you don't need the lens kit, you can save good money there.