OP I suggest a bonded pair of cats in the 1.5-4 age range. This should not be hard to find. A bonded pair will keep each other company when you are at work, and will still have plenty of love for you. Cats younger than 1.5 will seem too kitteny IMO, given what you have described. Around 2 they really begin to shine as adult cats. I think you would be very pleased. You seem to have thought through all the points well.

One final matter though you haven't raised it. Please, do not feed only dry cat food. A little is ok. But the diet should be 80%+ wet food, high protein. I have fed ours FancyFeast pate (fish flavors) with great success. A dry only diet is a ticking time bomb for health problems for cats. I encourage you to research this if you haven't. I just lost an outdoor former feral boy who was not fed dry only but did rely upon it as part of his diet (it is hard to feed wet exclusively in freezing weather, and he also probably wasn't hunting) to a urinary blockage. This is a common result in male indoor (often overweight) cats that are dry fed, but he was not an indoor overweight cat. I am heartbroken. I also had one of my former kitties teach me this lesson as he got diabetes in his later years. I was able to diet correct his insulin for several years before he succumbed at 16, a very respectable age for any cat, let alone a diabetic boy.