Advice? Category-specific content

I’d like the categories of my blog to have category-specific sidebar content and banners (i.e. a ‘recent posts’ list in the sidebar that only lists posts for the current category, widgets that only appear on specific category pages and banner images that are only displayed on specific category pages.)

I believe there are a variety of plugins and coding options to achieve these goals, but I’d like to hear the advice of fellow WordPress users on the best methods to use.

Thanks in advance for your input.

Cheers,

York