Q: Change printing default presets?

You can change the printer defaults via the CUPS web page. But by default, the CUPS page is blocked. To enable it, open Terminal and type "sudo cupsctl WebInterface=yes" (without the quotation marks). Enter the admin password when prompted and then refresh the browser view.

1. With CUPS web page open, select the Printers tab and then select the printer you want to modify. Then from the Administration drop menu, change to "Set Default Options".
2. This will show a new page with four menu headings (links); Options Installed, General, Banners and Policies. Select General.
3. Scroll down the list until you find the option you want to set as default.
4. With the option select you then need to scroll down the list to the bottom of the page where you will see the ‘Set Default Options’ button.
5. When you click the 'Set Default Options' button you will then be presented with an authentication window. Enter the account name and password that has been set as the admin for this Mac. And then press the Log In button. You will then see another page stating that the information change is completed.
6. You can now exit the CUPS admin page and check that the change is set.

The process described by PAHU works, but the settings in the print dialog don't actually change. That is, I set the printer to print in black and white with draft quality, which it does, but the dialog doesn't reflect that. Ideally, I want to have a default that I can override on a case-by-case basis, which the CUPS solution doesn't seem to provide. Or am I missing something?

Your image shows that you are using Apple's AirPrint driver. I had never tried changing the defaults with this driver so I just tried now and found the same as you - in that changing the Color Mode to B&W isn't reflected in the print dialog view. I also found that while the Quality slider has three settings, the CUPS menu only has two - Normal and High.

For the printer that you have, is there a driver available that is made by the maker of your printer? If so then I would recommend you create the printer using the vendors' driver rather than the AirPrint driver. This should then let you change the defaults and this should show in the print dialog and let you change.

It took me longer than it should have, but it worked! Thank-you very much, PAHU.

I have also provided feedback to Apple: I don't understand why it is impossible to change the default settings either via the dialog window or System Preferences.