Welcome to the fun. My first router was a skill, not too different than what you have. I replaced it pretty quickly with the Bosch 1617 EVSPK kit. About $200-220 new. CPO tools occasionally has refurbished kits for sale, which Stick says are good as new. You can easily install it in a home made table (a chunk of flat plywood will do for a start). Table mounted routers are MUCH safer to use than hand held. The kit comes with both the fixed base (which can be used to hold the router to the table, with a key accessory that allows you to adjust bit height from the top of the table. The router also has a ton of different accessories, all of which are easily available, well made, and often include sawdust removal gadgets. You'll find the Bosch is very popular here. 2.25 hp, strong enough for nearly any task, great customer service.
There are many other brands people like here, notably DeWalt, Makita, Hitachi, that are very good, but they at best are equal to the Bosch.
I'm with Stick on Freud bits for general use, although when it comes to the bits you use in sets for door and fancy cabinet making, my personal preference are the matched sets by Sommerfeld tools. These are height matched so once you set the first bit in the set, all the rest just drop in and hold the setting so you don't have to mess with height every time. I think Freud now offers matched bit sets as well.
I learned to love my table mounted router by watching YouTube videos by Marc Sommerfeld. There are a number that show how he works. Sommerfeld started as a cabinet maker, and his technique is simple and very precise. He uses a Triton router in his table, but the technique will be the same regardless of router brand. I have no connection with that company, by the way, but have several of their sets. He also has a must have tool for the table, they are called "EasySet" jigs, and are star shaped, with each arm having the exact shape of a particular bit you'd use in a table. He has one for his brand bits, plus another for similar bits by Freud. About $30 each, these also take into account the exact thickness of the work piece, which adds tremendously with precision (parts fit together exactly without having one part higher than the other. Otherwise its sand and plane time, or fiddling with the height using test pieces.
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Poor tools are very frustrating. You do your best to measure, cut and assemble accurately, and the tool's inaccuracies mess your project up! Sometimes its just half a degree error in the cutting blade angle so you can't glue something together. It has taken me a decade to build up my workshop with high quality tools, not always the most expensive, but always the best in their range or type. My wife really likes seeing me in the shop, so she has supported me in getting better quality stuff to work with. Projects done for her also make her happy, and that for most of us married types, is an important part of this hobby. Happy wives, happy lives.
