I think you made the right choice. I would add some genie garage door handles to the mid section as you are assembling it. They'll line up with the hole pattern for the screws that hold the grills and water pan bracket.
I do recommend the chimney starter and Mav. The chimney starter is a measuring cup for your charcoal as you learn how much charcoal to use. For instance, I used two and a half chimney fulls of unlit lump and one chimney full of lit lump for the T-bird below to get me to 325* with a foiled clay saucer instead of water in the pan.
I also recommend welder's gloves or the like to handle hot chimneys, coals, etc. I also have insulated silicone gloves for handling hot food but you can use utinsels to handle hot food.
As far as probes are concerned, some use grommets, I decided to just cut a slit in the mid section. You can see the probes in it here: