and how easy it is to clean around them.

Dripped water onto a black countertop is not going to be unsightly and if he's as clumsy as you say he is, the main culprits will be the coffee grounds, the coffee itself, and whatever he puts into the coffee.

For ease of cleaning, I think I'd go with a freestanding machine that can be moved to clean around and under it. Having a sink right there for filling the machine is not going to cause much mess.

http://www.google.com/imgres?q=built+in+coffee+maker&start=235&um=1&hl=en&sa=N&tbo=d&biw=1441&bih=654&tbm=isch&tbnid=MI7xqzwYoZNdrM:&imgrefurl=http://pinterest.com/pin/162481499027862439/&docid=YGUSxjtdrAzk8M&itg=1&imgurl=&w=554&h=415&ei=trEAUeLzJMmT0QGhsYFw&zoom=1&iact=hc&vpx=205&vpy=57&dur=1318&hovh=194&hovw=259&tx=118&ty=102&sig=110951042767582434141&page=8&tbnh=132&tbnw=178&ndsp=33&ved=1t:429,r:37,s:200,i:115

The coffee and the grinds stay in the machine until I dispose of them. He wouldn't have to dump them everyday because it has a bin built in, and I can do it every other day or so.

. . . manage to keep it working instead of having to replace it and risk not finding one that fits the same niche. There may be built in/directly plumbed consumer makers, but I am not aware of them. Plumbed units are usually the commercial ones.

I also answered your onyx counter question.

I'm thinking about something like the one I posted above.

That's a superautomatic espresso maker with Saeco guts in it.

We are on our third Saeco free standing machine. What I am about to say may sound discouraging, but trust me when I say it: we LOVE these machines.

They are high maintenance. They are VERY high maintenance. They WILL fail if they are not descaled when the Descale * * NOW * * light comes on. If you screw up and the machine fails, repairs are *never* less than $300 and 3 weeks unless you are skillfully handy, not just ordinary handy. The good news is that they are, in fact, repairable.

I've actually seen that model and the guts can be removed from the chasis, so that's a plus as far as sending it off for repair. (Forget finding local service There are only a relatively few repair places in the US.)

The grounds need to be emptied every so many brews. I never counted, but I think we get maybe 10 or 15 cups between emptying. Water use is dependent on what you're making. An espresso still makes one puck of grounds, but an expresso uses waaaaay less water than does a big cup.

Are you sure that model is plumbed and not using a removable reservoir? Whatever you do, get a water filter option if it available.

By the way, apart from the cool factor, they make great coffee.

But they are VERY VERY V E R Y HIGH MAINTENANCE.

Oh, and did I say they're high maintenance.

for over 3 years now. It's a refurb'd Impressa F9 but we are so pleased after 3 of the finicky Saecos

easy to dump and the cleaning cycle is a breeze (about every 5# of beans) and descale only about 3 times a year on average

here's an ebay listing for our machine if you want to check it
http://www.ebay.com/itm/Jura-Capresso-Impressa-F9-Automatic-Coffee-and-Espresso-Center-/281065686268?_trksid=p3284.m263&_trkparms=algo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%26itu%3DUCI%252BUA%252BP%252BFICS%252BUFI%252BIIUM%26otn%3D2%26pmod%3D321072431330%26ps%3D54

it fits just fine in the old Saeco spot

We have recently renovated our kitchen installing cherry kitchen cabinets, this one looks great but we don't have enough space available. I think removing the doors of one panel will do the work for us.

one set of cupboards has the doors removed but we were lucky the old owners had already added power in there as they had the microwave there

The humble French Press