Actually both. I've always admired the 1911's, and, as a kid I've always wanted one, because it's the side arm of choice with the US military. I'd probably use it as my first choice to carry, also.
I'm not at all opposed to a 9mm, either, though. I've got several revolvers, and now I'm looking at semi-autos, but, I have relatively no knowledge of them. I've fired plenty of friends guns at the range, and I think now I'd like to own a few different ones. I'd like a .5, a 9mm, a 40, etc...
Low end 1911s will probably need smithing (a 'reliability job') in order to reliably feed anything but FMJs - that (used to be) a couple hundred bucks and a few (a lot?) weeks. Kimbers were a great package until people found out and the raised their prices.
Something changed in my grip over the years, and I finally need a beavertail on my 1911 (it just started biting me - never a problem until recently). They're heavy (so they make a good club when you run out of ammo ;-)).
If you're open to other-than-1911s, try a Glock. They're ugly, and the trigger isn't as nice, but they go bang every time (I've had two misfeeds in 25 years, and both were with remanufactured ammo that I bought in bulk, and, upon examination after the jam, the bullet was seated cockeyed and the case was crumpled on one side - nothing would've fed them).
Which leads to a point - somebody (Mas Ayoob maybe?) recommended that you get all your serious ammo (carry, home defense whatever) out and roll them all (to make sure you don't have any cockeyed bullets), then weigh them all on a precise scale (to check for powder problems - although that part sounds more like something the bench rest crowd would do).
Make sure you run a couplathree boxes of the actual 'serious' ammo you want to use through the gun to make sure it feeds reliably, and change the 'serious' stuff out every few years.