No question is stupid if you want an answer. I have to say, though, that I don't understand your reason. If you have one color cartridge with three colors and use all of one color you have to replace the cartridge (all three colors). It's cheaper to replace a single color cartridge. If you don't need color at all the best thing is to get a laser printer. Prices have gotten very low and it is cheaper to print with them. You also get better quality print.

Thanks so much for answering. I did think about a laser printer but I do like having color as once in a while I will print out a photo. I very seldom have to replace the color cartridge. It just seems much easier to deal with the one cartridge.

I believe HP Still sells two cartridge printers.

If you print colour so rarely then seriously consider the laser printer. You can get photos printed in many box stores these days for less than the price of paper and ink. You can even send them from the comfort of your computer chair. The lasers have come down considerably too. Last year one company (Dell?) had a special on for under $100 (OK so it was $99.95)

The other downside to printing rarely with ink jets is the chance the nozzles will dry out on you through lack of ink passing through

You will probably not find anything as sturdy as that old Epson C60, mine lasted forever and I just kept refilling the cartridges all the time, an amazing printer. Replaced it with the C82 and it went to the dump after only one black cartridge being used casting huge doubts about Epson.

I looked at a 'monochrome laser printer'
uses toner ... do they all user toner ? why cant it just burn paper.

$70 delivered , amazon, brothers,,, do 1500 printouts then toss it away. Or find a toner cartridge for $50 to do 2500 more. 20 pages per minute,, impressive.

Why don't you just go to printer properties and shut off
color. Turn color back on when you want to print color.

As noted, if you don't use the color ink at least once a week, or thereabouts, you'll end up with the color ink heads stopped up. And, color doesn't cost more than black, does it? Seems to me if you print color in color rather than in a gray-scale, the black cartridge will last longer. My experience is ink is ink, and as I do refill I can say the price of ink is the same, black, yellow, magenta, and cyan.

We have a Dell All-in-One printer, which came free with a computer a year ago. It takes 2 cartridges, one black, the other color. My son uses that computer for school work and never uses the color. He's replaced the black cartridge a few times, but never the color.
I have a Cannon 500 Pixma which takes 6 inks. Although, I rarely ever print any color, it uses color. The printer is used for printing documents and no photos. Yet it uses color. I don't know why, it's very annoying and expensive.
I remember a few years ago, I found a cheap Lexmark in Staples which only printed black and had one cartridge. I picked it up for a friend. It only cost about $30 bucks.
I think she still uses it.
Jane