I want to create an instance of an item and have it magically appear at a reference. Having to ask is embarrassing, but how do I do that?

EDIT: Yeah, I meant to post this in the CS forum.

Your question is pretty vague. But probably PLACEATME will do. Look at the CS WIKI for details and some issues to consider.
Hope this helps

PlaceAtMe causes save game bloat, it's better to have the item in a dummy cell then use MoveTo instead.

That's a bit overstated. If you just use it a couple of times (Nek is talking about 'AN instance') PlaceAtMe is defintely better than MoveTo with all its snap back and world art update problems, especially for a newbie. See the MoveTo notes in the Wiki.