I would say buy used equipment as much as possible. It takes more time investment in looking for equipment and checking out to see if it works or if you're buying it from someone who's reliable, but in the end you will save a lot of money. For example, I actually bought most of my cafe equipment new, but ended up going for a cheaper ice machine. The machine came looking beat up, but it's performed well and in 7 months I only now am having my first problem with the automatic sensor that switches the machine on to make more ice. It's a minor problem and it still functions well, and will probably be fixed for cheap. Buying a new ice machine would have cost me three times what I paid, and I'm probably spending the same on maintenance costs.