OK- I'm going to jump in and say (Ok, rant) , this ain't 1980! There are high frequency inverters that start motors just fine. We prove that every day with our little EG4 6000XP inverters and I'm sure many others exist that perform just as well.
Unlike a lot of the theorists who have read about problems and now repeat what they read, or those whose solar experience is from the last century, we actually live off grid in a home we built last year, with basically every modern convenience, and you know how often we have a problem with anything starting, or running correctly? Exactly never. And the only "low-load" thing we've done in terms of limiting motor start surge was to install a Grundfos SQ well pump (which is just a fantastic well pump, whether off-grid or not). Sure, most well pumps have a large start surge. So, if you end up having a huge problem (and most don't), then just replace it with a better well pump rather than design an entire off grid power system around one comparatively affordable motor. Everything else we or multiple contractors have had to use has been trouble-free.
When we were planning our off grid build, everybody and their brother told us about some problem we'd have, or something we wouldn't be able to do, or why we needed to buy [insert special thing they had read about but never used]. In the end, the only thing we did differently was the well pump, and if I were building an on-grid house, I'd now buy that model for it as well. Our other appliances and such were selected for reasonable energy efficiency but they're no different than the ones we would have purchased for a new on-grid build.
Like many things in life, if we had listened to the theorists and armchair experts, or people who hadn't stayed current with their knowledge, we'd have either stayed connected to the utility company's umbilical cord, or bought needlessly expensive equipment, or lived like we're camping. Instead, we live in a remarkably comfortable home, with every modern convenience we desire, running all sorts of tools and equipment with big surges from the motors at times, and just shake our heads and laugh at those who think doing this is "hard" or "inconvenient" or that it requires anything more than some time becoming educated and some common sense. Honestly, people, gaining some freedom from unexpected outages at inconvenient times, or equipment-damaging surges and brownouts, and a monthly charge to obtain something that literally falls from the sky for free if you'll just pick it up using easily-managed modern equipment, isn't nearly as hard as many people seem to think.