they don't need to match. many people have SS, nickel or chrome faucets and ORB (or brass) pulls/knobs.

I don't think the faucet needs to match either. Most people who did brass hardware in their kitchens did not do brass faucets. The same is true for other hardware. Faucets are in another category. I would not want them to clash, but a differing finish if thought out well is just fine.

I think as long as your finishes match your style, then they'll be fine. If you're doing a rustic/country kitchen, just pick those types of finishes. I'm planning to mix antique brass, wrought iron and a few copper accents...but it's a rustic french/european county style kitchen (with a little cottage thrown in) so it should all work. Shiny brass or chrome, probably not so much. Hope that helps :)

So glad you posted this...I am having the same dilemma! I found a chrome faucet that I love but had my heart set on a mix of ORB and antique glass knobs and pulls. My lights I picked up are ORB but I think I am going to incorporate mercury glass shades into the ORB chandelier.

Mine don't match, but they coordinate well.

Thanks all. I am going for it- will mix it up!

This is a matter of personal taste and style. You mentioned you're not crazy about "matchy matchy". Since your island cabinets and your base cabinets are different colors you can mix finishes on the hardware as well as the faucets. Both faucets should have the same finish but it may be different then the hardware and lighting. I'd tie the lighting in to one or the other unless it ties in elsewhere in the house.

Example: I have brushed nickel faucets/stainless steel sinks with brushed stainless light fixtures so essentially the same coloring. I have black hardware on the maple toffee stained cabinets and antique brass that has quite a bit of black on the re-used white dove painted cabinets. It all works and I got to reuse the exposed antique brass hinges that the PO put in and I really liked.

owls4me, good idea, different hardware finish on my dark island and a contasting one on my white cabinets. Faucet shopping has not been fun. There are so many different shades of ORB from manufacturers. I am now leaning towards 2 brushed nickel faucets. Think that would look OK with my white sinks? ( have dark blue Corian counters and undermount sinks).

I just went through this while redoing two bathrooms. I started out with satin nickel on everything - plumbing, light and handles - but then realized that I much prefer ORB for lights and handles for my med stained QS oak mirror trim and cabs. I asked a designer friend if I was delusional for wanting to mix these on top of brass door knobs. Her reply was that if I was, she was, too, because she's designing a bathroom with exactly those finishes down to the brass door knobs. I paged through my stack of shelter mags and spotted a number of bathrooms and kitchens that mix it up with hardware finishes. It looks good because everything is in the same style. In other words, you can mix satin nickel with ORB as long as you don't combine a modern faucet in satin nickel with Old World cab handles in ORB.

btw, pay attention to the ORB finishes of your choices because that finish isn't consistent from manufacturer to manufacturer. Some are a dark brown matte while others have a dark coppery color showing through where wear might occur. I think mixing different ORB finishes would be more noticeable than mixing ORB and satin nickel.

There are many threads about this on gardenweb. I think it is perfectly fine to mix finishes. lisa_a is absolutely right about ORB finishes. I was going to do ORB faucets in my kitchen. However, the ORB water filter faucet did not match the ORB main faucet because they were different brands. I ended up with chrome because chrome pretty much matches regardless of the brand. My light fixtures and cabinet pulls/knobs are ORB and it all looks nice. Good luck!

I just posted some pics of kitchens with mixed finishes on another thread. Maybe this will help you visualize, so check it out...

Here is a link that might be useful: pics of mixed finishes