Either same faucet different finishes (I'd never have answered that was if I'd not have seen the lovely kitchen above) or same finish, no need to match. What would look bad would be two different finishes and styles in the same kitchen. My faucets (I have three) are all different, all within six feet of each other...and the only thing they have in common is the same finish. They look great and each functions as it should for the area it serves.

Green Designs came up with a great plan, as usual. It's very similar to my new kitchen. The aisle between my 9' island with prep sink and the rangetop wall is about 42" counter to counter. Its perfect. I've had much larger aisles and hated them. In fact, that's one of the reasons I reno'd my old kitchen. I'm the sole cook in my kitchen 99% of the time, and I would never, ever, ever give up my prep sink. Ever. I love having a large prep zone with a dedicated water source that I don't have to share with the cleanup zone. I'm usually the one who does the dishes too, but when DH occasionally does that when I'm cooking, he can do it out of my way. This kitchen is my first experience with separate prep and cleanup sinks, but it has changed my cooking habits and way of looking at things in the kitchen. You will not use the sink on the perimeter to prep the way you laid out the space. It's not convenient for daily prep. It is a great place for a cleanup sink. Being over on the side like that, your dirty dishes won't show much. Mine don't. Between the giant single basin cleanup sink and the perimeter location, the few dirty dishes waiting on the counter for the DW don't both my OCDness very much. And as you can see, my kitchen is open or at least semi-open to all the other rooms in the house and to the front door. I much prefer an island being all one height rather than bi-level. Your first inspiration pic island is one height. At one level, you can spread out for large baking/cooking projects and for school, sewing or crafting projects. A large kitchen doesn't have to have wasted space. It just needs to be laid out correctly so you have the right amount of space in the right zones. I agree with everything Holly said. I think you could have a great kitchen here!

We got the Grohe Ladylux Pro for both sinks because the Ladylux Cafe didn't have a locking spray. Have they changed that? I don't find splashing to be a problem on the small side of our main sink which is 8" deep. I don't think you need to go with the same shape for both sinks though we did. The shape only stands out when one is right next to the sink since it's just a horizontal hole on the counter that is viewed mostly edge on at any distance.

Kgypso - your contractor is probably thinking of the ol' Badger disposals--he's likely installed a heap of those, and they don't grind very well. I very much hope you are getting disposals (note the plural; I recommend one in each sink) with either 3/4 or 1 hp motor, and all stainless steel innards. If you have that, your disposals will be powerful enough such that grind will be very fine and not clog up your pipes. I just posted another thread about the This Old House Show visiting the InSinkErator factory in Racine, WI. To test the quality of the disposals coming off the line, they had each disposal grind 35 lbs. of steer rib bones and 6 lbs. of pine cubes. Pretty impressive. Furthermore, the InSinkErator rep said that the bones actually help clean the grinding mechanism which makes it more efficient. Make sure your contractor isn't still thinking of the way they used to make disposals 25 years ago, and make sure that he is installing powerful disposals for you (3/4 hp or 1 hp).