Nice looking machine Jake. Welcome to the HX club.
~~~I came into possesion of this new Salvatore machine April 6th of this year so I have been pulling shots with it daily going on 10 weeks. I'm getting pretty comfortable with it. Prior to this machine I used a PID'd Gaggia Classic to pull shots with for close to a year, so I have some experience with one of the single boiler machines the OP is also considering
The nice thing about pour overs, they're ready to go right from the get go, just plug em in, fill with water, wait til it's hot and you're pulling a shot. A plumb in machine requires you to provide a way to get water to your machine, but that exercise need not be fraught with roadblocks, and once you have the water taken care of, it's not an issue any longer
If the OP wants to get into the home espresso machine scene on a tight budget, he ought to consider going with the used Bunn ES-1A route like Robert suggested. There are bargain Bunn hx machines for sale out there. He would have to put a little work into it first but the pay off is huge and quite possibly less cash outlay than what he would spend for a new single boiler set up with all the right mods
That's part of the fun with espresso for me, all the possibilities in how to make it. I had a lot of fun with my Gaggia Classic, and I'm having fun with the Salvatore One Black now. I'm also rebuilding a commercial hx machine and I know I'll have fun with that one as well, once I get it shot worthy
Jake
Reddick Fla.
Stop apathy. Or don't.