I use a very old HP laserjet for normal B&W printing - it's excellent, totally reliable, and cheap to run.
I do colour work on a very cheap Epson C70. It uses more ink in head-cleaning than in printing, but once sorted, it's fine.
I tried cheapo ink cartridges, and some were rubbish. Aktiv are fine - and their photo-quality glossy paper is top notch.
Daughter works from home, and has a colour Laser. It's big, expensive, and excellent. Totally OTT for anything less than heavy business use, though.