Looking for hardware recommendations, one device as router, one device as wireless AP

[mpa]

@bigboy12

Planning on running the VoIP phones off the modem, I think I can still do that in bridge mode?

This will not work unless your ISP has made provisions for this use case.
Connect the VoIP phones to the router, and consider setting up SQM.

@bigboy12

Do you think IPQ4018/IPQ4019 is sufficient for my use or would IPQ8065/IPQ8066 be better?

Likely more than sufficient, unless you want to saturate your line using OpenVPN:

Comparative Throughput Testing Including NAT, SQM, WireGuard, and OpenVPN

Overview While there's been a lot of individuals testing various routers, the question still always seems to come up, "What can I expect from Router X?" I won't say that my testing is going to definitively answer those questions, but at least it should be a self-consistent data set. To be very clear, this is a benchmark. Like most benchmarks, the performance you get in your own environment may be different. If you have a craptastic ISP, a lossy ISP connection, a flakey cable, hosts pummeling y…