There's a Kohler satin stainless faucet in one of the REO's we just picked up, looks fairly moldable to any style. Not the best shot but works with maple cabinets and Corian tops. {{gwi:1967178}}

My faucet matches the other faucets in the kitchen. In a one faucet kitchen, you can match it to anything. I guess the only lead I might take is to look at the color of your drain pieces. Are they chrome or nickel??? I'd want the faucet to match that trim at a minimum.

Same as Igloochic...The faucets in my kitchen are chrome, but nothing else is.

I liken chrome faucets to white t-shirts/camisoles...They are perfectly acceptable and go with everything...No need to match them to the 'outfit.'

Go for function and style first. Then worry about the finish. From the sound of your kitchen, you'll likely want something in the "white" metals (stainless/nickel/chrome). It's possible the faucet you fall in love with will only offer one of those as a finish and this decision will be made for you.

Nothing. Sorta kinda.

My main faucet is chrome. The only other chrome item is the potfiller. I wanted a shiny faucet that sparkled and loked clean and shiny in the sun coming through my window. My prep sink in the island, however, is brushed nickel. Nothing else is brushed nickel, but I do have other stainless and brushed silver tone surfaces. The two faucets are different because they sit on different countertops above different cabinet finishes.

My 2 kitchen faucets (Danze ORB, which doesn't exactly match most other ORB finishes) match the air gaps and soap dispensers (also Danze ORB). The hot/cold water dispenser matches the air switches (one at each sink) which are the traditional ORB made by Westbrass (darker than Danze ORB). I still don't have the sink strainer/disposal trim for both Silgranit anthracite super single sinks...but am thinking either ORB or matte black, depending upon what I find.

However, I chose my potfiller to match the Lacanche, so it is, ahem...polished brass. It has cross handles that match the Lacanche perfectly and my granite counters and backsplash mosaic have a lot of gold, so I think I'll like it. We'll see in the next month or so when it's all installed!

Someone else on this forum (maybe Marthavilla, but I'm not sure) described the chrome faucet as jewelry for kitchen.

I'm having stainless steel everywhere else (appliances, handles, sink) but I will be getting chrome for the faucet & other sink items - instant-hot & soap dispenser. I just want a little bling somewhere in the kitchen.

Besides, it often seems to me that the stainless faucet colors are a little "off" from the other stainless items in the kitchen.

I think you're lucky, with a Silgranite sink, you are pretty well open to almost anything with your faucet. I agree with smilingjudy, that your choice may be made for you if you find the right faucet. And, as Igloochic asked, what finish does the drain have?

All my fixtures/hardware are ORB, but my sink is SS. I ordered a Blanco faucet online that says SS, but in reality looks more like nickel to me- I don't think anyone has ever noticed the difference. It bugged me a bit at first (but as the non-perfect kitchen post confirms), not really anything I think or care about anymore!

I knew that I wanted to bring in warmth to my kitchen through the hardware. So, I matched my cabinet hardware with my faucet hardware. Then I made sure to have the drain hardware come from the same manufacturer as the faucet. I have stainless steel appliances, gray countertops with marble and copper colored hardware and hood. Have fun!

Melinda

I also have the Silgranit sink in Cafe Brown and stainless appliances. My faucets are by Newport Brass, and the color is English Bronze. Looks like they were made to match the sink! And everything blends well together.

trose27 - your faucet color looks perfect with the sink , bs, & counter! What color hardware did you use on your cabs?

sylace - you say your counter is dark brown & your sink is silgranite cafe. Maybe consider a faucet that will provide a little contrast like chrome, stainless steel, or brushed nickel. To my eye, it looks like trose made a pleasing choice with his/her choice of a bronze faucet because the backsplash and counters have some lighter color (plus the window & window frame add lightness) and provide some contrast. Do you have a window or a backsplash behind your sink?

My sink is brushed stainless & hardware is brushed nickel. I went with a brushed nickel faucet.

Laurie 2008, thanks! And my cabinet hardware is brushed nickel. Somehow, it all blends nicely. Here is a picture that shows more of the kitchen.{{gwi:1967180}}
By the way, I am a her:-)

Sylace, my spouse and I recently went through this decision process. At first the question seems simple, but there are loads of options. Some folks have hardfast rules about what should match. Our kitchen is all white, so I can't give you 'similar situation' info, but I can tell you what we considered. We have stainless refrig, stove, vent hood, and a white DW.

- Metal finishes...from different manufacturers can vary, as mentioned above.
- Scrutiny and proximity...also mentioned above...items with similar finishes, which you scrutinize before the job is complete, may be less noticeable once the remodel is finished. Proximity of slightly different finishes can minimize or maximize their color differences. We have a soap dispenser, disposal air switch and side spray next to the faucet. Since they are inches away from each other, they all have the same finish, polished nickel. We have ORB knobs for the cabinets and ORB bin pulls for the drawers. These ORB items are from different mfgs and vary just slighty in color, but they are far enough away from each other that it is a non issue. However, they may wear differently with use. A chance we are willing to take, considering the price. Keep reading for info on why we selected ORB instead of light colored metal.
-Surrounding areas...I saw window mentioned above. Our sink could not be centered under the window, so we chose sink hardware with less contrast to help minimize any 'first glance' attention to this area. We selected a goose neck faucet with a spout that did not visually cross the plane of the window sill and extend into the the frame of the window. Okay, its off center, but we didn't want to highlight it!
-More on contrast...Sink fixtures with high contrast relative to the surrounding surfaces will emphasize the sink hardware. For example, if our sink fixtures were ORB against the surrounding white, then the sink fixtures would draw more attention. Furthermore, sink fixtures that have a lot detail, are large in scale, or visually 'busy' in some way, will call attention to themselves. So, contrasting color and contrasting details maximize contrast. Focal point or blend?
-Style and design of the house...our cabinet hardware is ORB, which matches the ORB pendants hanging over the sink. Our kitchen opens into the rest of the house. The door hardware in the rest of the house is ORB, so we stayed consistent and pulled some of the house design into the kitchen design. When was your house constructed? Can you put your house in a 'period' of design (e.g. arts and crafts, mid century modern, etc.)? What finish and color are the door knobs in your house? Side note...the kitchen can spawn projects in the rest of the house if you drastically change the appearance.
-Light switches...these can blend into the wall or match the other hardware in the kitchen and house. I recently read that someone matched the light switch plates with the finish of the light fixtures. For us that would've been ORB, which is more contrast than we wanted. We went with white to minimize contrast. And there are no ORB electrical plates in other areas of our house.
-The "safest choice" might be matching all the hardware and the appliances as closely as possible (e.g. stainless steel appliances with brushed cabinet hardware with brushed sink hardware with brushed light fixtures, etc).
-Do you plan to sell this house in the near future? If so, what you like might not be what a potential buyer likes.
-If you're on this site, you've probably already visited the book store and library for ideas. Educating yourself will give you the most comfort. Decisions in the theoretical world are hard to visualize and can make selections cumbersome. We spent a lot of time researching, trying our best to find pictures with similar kitchen designs to help us decide. Collect as much visual information as you can to figure out what you like and works best with your application!!! We purchased hardware so we could hold it in place and returned what we didn't like (made sure we could return it first!). We watched 'spice up my kitchen' on HGTV. Do you prefer champagne and gold or beer and paper plates or somewhere in between?

Hope this helps.

trose27 - Love your kitchen! That is a good example of how you can use a different finish on your hardware compared to your faucet and still everything blends nicely : ) Very cool vent hood & butcher block top on your island. Is your counter along the window side porcelain tile, travertine, or ? Looks great!

nizzle brings up some very good points to think about. One of the points mentioned is do you want your faucet to blend in or do you want it to stand out and be a focal point?

sylace- do you have a picture that you can post?

I looked over my post this morning...a lot of stuff I typed out. Sorry if I gave too much info relative to the original question.