Yeah, you need something you can buy already in bloom, or close to it. Petunias or geranium are good suggestions above. You can plant somewhat closer than the standard recommendations.

We have an Instahot. We had the cheapest kind of insinkerator instahot in our old kitchen and it worked for many many years. We had one in our previous house too and my DH installed one for his parents. In our experience, there haven't been any problems with them. Perhaps there are more problems where the water is very hard. They are pretty simple devices. For the new kitchen we got a nicer looking instahot which also provides filtered cool water. The nicer one has a temperature adjustment which lets it be set just short of boiling. We use it a lot and I wouldn't want to be without it. I use it to: start a pot of boiling water off closer to the boil so I don't have to wait as long - or especially when I need to add a cup or so of water to a pot that is already going so it doesn't cool off and need to heat again. make tea - if I'm really in a fussy mood and want the most perfect brew for black tea, I'll put it in the microwave to get it to a full boil, but really the tea brews fine in it. use it mixed with tap water for washing so that I don't have to wait for the hot water to get to the tap. run fresh herbs under it to release some of the flavor. warming our granddaughter's bottles or frozen baby food when she was at that stage - just put the bottle in a mug and put hot water in. It is very fast and one doesn't have to worry about hot spots like with a microwave. use 1 part hot water to 3 or 4 parts cool filtered water for mixing with the yeast when making bread. Warm water without chlorine - chlorine inhibits the yeast growth. We don't have a soap dispenser at the main sink. I prefer to have soap that I can squirt where I need it and I don't mind having the bottle on the counter. If I did I would buy a prettier bottle. But we have a soap dispenser on our island sink. On the island, a soap bottle would get moved around, sometimes be in the way and sometimes be hard to find. The island one is used mainly for washing hands so I keep hand soap in it and just fetch the one from the main sink on occasions when I need dish soap there.

Thermapen is worth every penny. You can use it on meat, baked goods, whatever. It really reads in under three seconds. It was really hard for me not to order one of the splash-proof ones to replace my "ancient" one when I was buying them as Holiday gifts. Most "instant" read thermometers on the market don't cut it. 6-10 seconds isn't instant. I want to open the oven/grill - go in to two or three places, and get out. The CDN quick-read units are pretty good as well; 5 or 6 seconds, for about $20 for the DTQ450X -- look for the ones that have the "turned down" (smaller diameter) tips for the last 1/2" or so. Whole Foods sometimes has these, and I see them at Amazon as well. Mechanical dial thermometers don't ever fall in the "instant" category for me. (Baked goods will often hold at below 200 until done, then shoot up when the moisture starts leaving as steam.)

Waterstone and Dornbracht both make two handed faucets for hot and cold water dispensing. Mountain plumbing is another option to look at. Your link to Westbrass did not come through Good luck!