Kat, as you know I also have noodled around with plucked psalteries, and in my case I tried that because my shoulders and wrists were not up to hammering. Hammer dulcimer would have been my first choice of instrument had I been physically able. So speaking as a player, although I think this may seem counter-intuitive, my first reaction to the photo was that having gotten used to the psaltery, you could transfer your diatonic picking to chromatic hammering pretty easily, although you might want to mark the "black" strings.

What I can't tell from the product description is how the string layout/tuning differs from other more affordable chromatic hammered dulcimers. Had you investigated those?

Suggest you also try hammering a tabletop autoharp. It's a lot of fun, and cheap. Needs a heavier hammer though, like an iced tea spoon, or a wooden cooking spoon with the handle flattened for a good grip. You hammer in an arpeggio (R hand) while chording (L), having turned the harp around with chord bars to your left, on a surface tilted up toward you a bit.

~Susan