Welcome to our forum. Good suggestions with the one gallon batches. What kind of wines do you feel you might want to make or what do you enjoy? As note, fruit wines give you versatility for making small batches.
If you want to make varietal wines like Merlot, Cabernet Sauvignon, Pinot Grigio, etc. it is very easy but you are moving to 6 gallon kits which yields about 30 bottles from a kit. If these wines are to your liking one suggestion is to see if you have any friends that might want to join you in winemaking and split up the end results.
You might see if there are any other winemakers already in your area that might be interested as well. I know there are a few kits I wouldn't mind making but don't really want 30 bottles of it and am going to look around for some local vintners that might want to share a few kits.
In regards to equipment needed, it really depends on what type of wine you end up making, kits or country wines. Most equipment will interchange but some stuff like carboys and fermenter will be different sized due to batch volumes.
Country wines may require extra chemical additions for area such as pH and acidity, clearing agents, etc. Figure out what you want to try, make a post with your decision and you will get your answers very quick by some very experienced winemakers here. Once again, welcome aboard.