Those are the nicest looking air gaps I have ever seen. I'd go with the soap dispenser. :)

I'd go with the soap dispenser too, that is way cool! I wouldn't worry about soap stains on the granite. You only see that in the restaurants due to the high traffic and probably the infrequency which it gets cleaned. If you take care to wipe off excess soap immediately I'm sure you will be fine.

If your walls are still open, you can avoid an air gap in the countertop all together by installing a devise known as a "Johnson T" or sometimes "Johnson Tee". It's essentially an air gap that is vented through the wall above or near the dishwasher. The one in my house is vented through the outside wall, so it's not seen in the kitchen at all. All that's seen on the exterior wall is a round disk, about 2" in diameter. The disk can be painted, so it becomes practically invisible. I've also seen them vented through the inside wall in the backsplash, but in those cases, the vent cover is usually are about an inch in diameter and has a more decorative chrome or other metal finish. The big advantage of having the vent on the wall, rather than on the countertop, is that it's one less thing to have to work around when you're wiping up the counters.

I learned about Johnson T's about a month after our walls closed. If only we had known sooner.

Honestly, I had heard and read about so many people NOT using air gaps that I just thought we wouldn't have an issue following suit. It was one of the few assumptions I made without loads of research and it backfired.

The soap dispenser comes in polished chrome or satin nickel. Which one would be better with stainless steel everything else?

I have satin nickel faucets, but went with SS sink drainer parts for durability. The finish is pretty close although they are not right next to each other. The garbage disposal piece on the other side of the sink is chrome (that one slipped through the cracks and I didn't even think about it matching). For being TKO, it doesn't much bother me that they are different.

I would say the satin nickel is a closer match to the SS though.

As a side note, does your dishwasher have a built-in air gap by chance? If so, you could always install a cheap air gap for inspection and change it out with a matching soap dispenser afterwards.

Do those soap dispensers hold much soap?

Fori, I am sure not. I haven't been able to find specs anywhere on any of these products. I think I recall running across one a long time ago that I can't find again, and they are something like 2.5" x 7.5". I would guess somewhere between 3 and 5 oz.

Cali wendy, I thought about that too. We could always pass inspection and do a loop vent thingy under the counter, but everyone keeps telling me that the air gap is the only truly fail safe method and that's why the UPC follows it so then I start to doubt that plan.

Put in an airgap for inspection and take it out afterwards and put in a real soap dispenser. As long as you have a high loop in your drain hose you won't have any problem. Many people do this.