Elliot your best bet is to head to a pool session and try a few out. Your going to be looking at 3 basic types of boats. River Runners, Creekers and Playboats. I would suggest sticking to the creekers and river runners since that seems to afford the best learning curve on the river of course it all depends on the paddler. I am about the same size but I have size 14 shoes, foot size plays a roll in the playboats much more than other boats.

Questions, Do you have a roll? What type of boat have you rolled? Have you paddled a boat with edges/planning or a round/displacement hull? If you have not learned your roll definitely head to a pool session and try a bunch of kayaks out. That will be the ticket to finding what you want and learning the basics at the same time. Once the water gets warmer you can start heading to the lake to get your roll practice on then gradually get into more and more rivers... Folks around here can get you out, many will offer tips and help but if you want a class check out washingtonkayakclub.org or aqua-sports.com which is partnered with an adventure school that offers classes!

Welcome and Have fun!

Elliot,
Take a class, you can drop a grip of money on gear and beer, but what you learn in a class will save you $ in the long run and make for a much more enjoyable time.
http://www.wetplanetwhitewater.com/courses-clinics/category/kayak_school/
Wet Planet is by far one of the best. And it makes for a nice weekend trip from Seattle
Cheers

I live in central Jersey. I joined this forum because I saw someone recommended it when I was doing some research. I will definitely take a class on rolling then practice a lot in a pool or calm water.

As far as kayaks go....I have pretty good balance, and am not worried about rolling over. I would like to have a boat that I can control pretty well, and doesnt put a hole in my pocket. Any brands, lengths, styles, etc that any of you would suggest? I know I need to test a few out before buying though.

Also, what about paddles? I am not looking for anything too advanced, just something I can have fun with and be able to control the boat.

Again, thanks for all the help!

Thanks for the info. Ill keep my eye out for the fun series kayaks. Regarding which size kayak to get, if I weigh 170, would I go for the kayak that hold weight 130-180 or the kayak that holds 160-220. Those are not the exact numbers, but Im just wondering if I should be in the upper end of the weight or lower end of the weight.

You should check out www.npmb.com.  that's the message board for the northeast.