I'm also in the camp of "as less plugins as possible", BUT when it comes down to these things.. leave it to the plugins.

It's the reasoning of "everything in one place" that makes some themes a bloated mess. I remember having to hack a bestselling TF theme that the client already bought as a cheap all-in-one, ending up in a 10s homepage load.. and afterwards a bill from me..

Plus, the portability of content is priceless, as demonstrated by another company, where one guy, not hindered by un-knowledge decided to 'quickly and swiftly' replace the theme (because he could, right ?), in the process cancelling out hundreds of portfolio posts already put in by his co-workers.