We've been through a few coffee machines and have now wound up with a Breville BES920 with a Smart Grinder Pro (you can usually get the grinder bundled). It's so far been very good to us (unlike earlier Sunbeams), reliable, simple and makes a nice drop. It's press-button without being utterly automatic, if that latter is something your husband doesn't want. It's a hefty machine, so you'd need some dedicated bench space for it and the separate grinder (Breville do one with a built-in grinder too, mentioned by someone previously). My partner particularly likes being able to walk away from the grinder while it grinds, though that's possibly not a feature many would write home about. :) I think they come in different colours now, if that's something that floats your boat design-wise. We also have a Nespresso pod machine. This is our road trip machine and I'm even more disgusted with ourselves for the extravagance of having it than I am of the hoey-moey coffee it lets us avoid drinking. You can get reusable plastic pods for it (they're a bit of a pain to fill), and I think recyclable pods. But the normal pods are not considered an environmentally friendly item, and they are exceedingly (relatively) expensive compared to buying beans and grinding. It is utterly push-button & I suspect would not satisfy your husband? The coffee it makes has small comparison to that of a "proper" espresso machine (though our extravagance does not regret it when we use it). It, with the pods and the "milk frother" fit in a small backpack, so they are not big - almost toaster size, so you could decide whether you'd leave it out, and easily find bench space for it. Yes, you can get built-ins in Australia. They're not cheap, but I know for sure Miele make one, and I'm pretty easy sure Smeg do. Bosch maybe? I think the internals are all actually built by Saeco. We've friends who have a Miele built-in - oddly, they're not big coffee drinkers and rather than maintain/clean it(?) they pull out the Nespresso machine when we visit. Saying all the above, should our Breville machine fail my partner (who sounds "manual" like your husband in this regard) would very likely seriously consider (and has in the past), the combo previously mentioned: the Rancilio Silva and the Rocky grinder. They do have quite a good rep' among the "coffee snobs" (see coffeesnobs.com.au to see I'm not being a jerk calling them snobs :) Also, it's a good forum to search for info & feedback on most machines).

I don't think the coffee machine matters unless it is built in. I would match the rest or it will look strange.

@dreamer Ha, I was embarrassed by how messy this pic was, that's why I didn't put it in the initial post. Yes, the power lead is absolutely gone - we just moved in a couple of weeks ago and everything in the wrong place! Thank you for your concern :) I was pretty sure that the measurements didn't allow for them to be side by side, but I'm going to look into that. If we can do that with enough airflow underneath for the ventilation, that would be a good solution. The patio has a roof but the left side of the photo (where the very overgrown grass is) does get wet in rain, so not sure if the side by side machines would work for that reason too. @Kate Yes, it's exposed on the side. We just wanted to find a laundry solution at this time - we are also planning on updating the kitchen and bathroom this year, but had initially thought that we would do that by just updating cabinets/appliances (and just re-siliconing and freshening up the bathroom). We are not against a bigger renovation but obviously have some cost limitations and are trying to do what makes the most sense.

Galina, Really think hard about access issues to your sink and washing machine behind sliding doors. If you have two sliding doors at 800mm wide, then the middle of the sliding door frame will have to be calculated that you have the sink behind one door and the washing machine behind the other door. Nothing worse than having your sliding door stopping right in the middle of your washing machine. Measure the spaces with the correct width for your appliances, and install without them being obstructed by the sliding door. Another alternative is to have hinged retractable cupboard doors, or pocket doors. These open like normal doors but then slide back out of the way into their little framed pocket. This will then not obstruct any part of your laundry space. And not impede into your dining room when open.