By "stovetop" do you mean a Moka Pot? That makes a decent strong coffee, but it's not espresso. Espresso is made via forcing water through the coffee under high pressure (generally, at least 9-10 bars), and no stovetop device that I'm aware of is anywhere close to that. Also, sorry, but no super automatic machine makes great espresso. "Good enough" (for some) and easy, but not stumptown or vivace quality. If they did, even the great cafés would use them to take out the barista factor (as you said, sometimes even a good place sometimes has a weak barista). Starbucks went to super automatics a long time ago from high end La Marzocco machines for this reason, but super automatic just means consistently ok, not consistently amazing. Those machines won't adjust temp or grind for the particular beans, the humidity, etc.
For what it's worth, the cheapest set up that can give you great coffee is an aeropress or French press with a decent grinder (doesn't need to be as good as for espresso). With good beans, you can make great "espresso" (not really espresso - see above) with an aeropress and a baratza burr grinder for $150-175 for both. That's what I'd recommend as a starting point, unless you really want crema, then get one of the cheaper super autos if "good enough" is, well, good enough.