However, I must caution against going to far on the side of simplicity. There are plenty of server hosts out there which lock you in to fixed configurations and do not support all the possibilities of what can be achieved with Minecraft. Most hosts have an option for Bukkit, but those that do occasionally limit the plugins you can run or do not allow modifications to the CraftBukkit server itself.
I recently ran into this problem when setting up my own experimental hardcore post-apocalyptic server, heavily modded to significantly enhance the gameplay experience. I looked around at several hosts, but not all of them could support the server I wanted to run. For example, Multiplay supports Bukkit but doesn't let you run a "modded" Bukkit server. To run exphc I needed to mod the CraftBukkit jar file itself, installing the required ModLoaderMP and MinecraftForge APIs to support Buildcraft, IndustrialCraft^2, RedPower2, and the handful of other mods depending on these APIs. Not all gaming-specific hosts allow this, so I went with a VDS.
Furthermore, there are other modded CraftBukkit servers out there like CraftBukkit++, and I hear the fine folks behind MC Port Central (who brought the BC/IC2/RP2 mods to Bukkit, among others) are working on their own fork, incorporating ML and Forge into the server itself. Hosts that only let you run CraftBukkit "recommended builds" miss out on all these interesting and powerful new Minecraft server configurations, pushing the limit of what is possible in Minecraft, beyond what can be achieved using Bukkit plugins alone.
Not to mention, plugins like Hawkeye require the use of a MySQL database, and are widely considered essential for any public server, in order to have a record of and rollback malicious player actions, from cheating or other rule violations. And some of the best and most innovative servers in my opinion, such as hcsmp, have their own website tightly integrated with the Minecraft server, providing real-time updates: logging player statistics, processing donation payments, or even displaying a dynamic map of the world and all player locations.
Of course, if you are targeting small servers, setup amongst friends, much of this is less important. But I'd still argue support for "mods" proper is crucial, as opposed to mere Bukkit plugins. Once I started playing with jetpacks and quarries and airplanes and other advanced technology, I realized, I couldn't go back to vanilla Minecraft. If you guys can crack the nut of setting up an optimally-configured modded Minecraft server, taking out the tedium of resolving block ID conflicts and world protection and backups and updates and incompatibilities, of messing with confusing YAML configuration files or executing SQL or console or shell commands, of downloading mods from adfly and unzipping and extracting and reorganizing the files properly, just to get up and running before you can play the game – I believe you will succeed. Getting set up properly is the biggest impediment for gamers to experience what Minecraft truly has to offer, but it is a completely solvable problem. I wish you the best of luck.