Is it permissible for murabahah to include items other than appliances (such as food and its containers, and wood and ceramics)? Is it a condition that the murabih (seller) goes in person to purchase them? And must the payments be made in installments, or can they be paid in a single lump sum?

Murabaha is permissible for the aforementioned tools, and they can be directly transferred to the place of use; it is not a condition to transfer them to the buyer's house. The first buyer's possession of them is established by anything considered a customary "qabd" (possession), and it is a condition that they genuinely enter his ownership before being sold to the one ordering the purchase. It is not a condition for the buyer to personally inspect them; he may delegate someone else. Furthermore, it is not a condition to pay the price in installments in a Murabaha sale; rather, it is according to the agreement.