Hands down Brushed nickel. BN is much more updated, in style, and shows fewer water spots than chrome IMO. The one and only advantate to chrome is that it's inexpensive. Good luck!

We had chrome faucet in our old kitchen, and SS (looks just like my brushed nickel cabinet hardware) faucet in the new one.

I wouldn't go back to chrome for "all the tea in China". :)

I love that I don't have to wipe down every little spot of water after washing dishes, washing my hands, rinsing veggies, etc. The time savings alone is worth the extra cost!

I have chrome in my bathroomand BN in my kitchen.The chrome is always covered in water spots, somatter how often I wipe them off. The BN barely shows them at all. For a kitchen, I would not even consider chrome.

OK, I'll bite and be the lone dissenter. I have the Brizo Floriano at my main sink with a hot water dispenser, and the bar sink BF at the prep, all in chrome as I preferred it. I feel it is a timeless look and brushed is more trendy. I don't have spots alot, but when I do notice them, a quick wipe with my kitchen towel (maybe 12 seconds) and it's beautiful. If you clean a brushed faucet, it doesn't looked "just cleaned", it looks...the same. Some may find that to be an advantage (hiding the fact that something needs to be cleaned) but I don't feel that way about my faucet.
Oh, and the fact that I even saved money? A bonus.

I love Chrome...the bit of sparkle and shine that it has, and it looks classic and timeless. The cost factor doesn't hurt although cost has never been an overriding decision factor for me.

I have it in my powder room which is used often, and will have it for my main sink and prep sink as well. It's not hard to clean at all...you just dry it then you're done!

Another vote for chrome. It's never the most trendy thing, but it never dates embarrassingly ten years later, either. :)

Chrome all the way in this house. I still remember getting rid of the last trendy faucet in this house--pseudo antique brass yuck.

Yet another vote for chrome. I have chrome in the BR & don't find it difficult to clean / keep clean at all. Plus, I just like the way it looks :)

As much as I love the look of chrome (have it in both bathrooms) there's no denying the need to wipe water spots. In the kitchen I have a brushed stainless faucet with brushed nickel sink strainers.

My gripe is the stainless dishwasher. The constant water drips drive me crazy! Stainless Steel Magic works great on the stove and fridge, but doesn't cut it on the DW.

I love the brushed nickel faucet in my current kitchen. I used to have chrome and the constant water spots drove me nuts. The dang thing looked lovesly right after I cleaned it, but 14 seconds later it was screaming for another rub. I think I'm a little too anal for chrome. This BN faucet always looks clean--even when it probably isn't.

I don't care if it does become dated! I plan always to cherish my low-maintenance fixtures. (So why am I getting a SS fridge? I'm sure I will be asking myself that every day after it arrives.)

Not to hijack this thread or anything, but MAN! Doesn't seem to matter much whether you get SS or a BLACK fridge, you're going to have fingerprints! I thought I was safe, and got black. Nooooooo. Guess I got spoiled with yesteryear's textured fridges. I looked and looked, couldn't find one for the new kitchen. I was told "they're out of style". HA!

Back to the faucet thing - I loved the looks of my chrome kitchen faucet. What I didn't love was wiping it down EVERY time that I (or anyone else) used it.

I had thought that I read on this forum that some folks were complaining about the poor finish on their brushed nickel faucets - that the finish was quite thin and even rubbing off after a time. Am I mistaken?

brushed nickel never did it for me and i had it in our last house. for the new house we're doing either chrome or polished nickel. i would never call chrome dated, but classic. brushed nickel says early 90s to me. i just got a stunning chrome faucet in from rohl. i think the upkeep is minimal at best.

Another for the timelessness of chrome........

Red

We bought brushed nickel... our faucet is a KWC with the most amazing finish.... love it.....

Nobody throw anything at me, but I'm not sure why chrome is considered "classic". I know it has been around for a long time, but for many years there just weren't a lot of other choices.

Because chrome continues to be popular even with all the new finishes available. First polished brash came and "went", then all the brushed finishes, polished nickel and ORB, yet chrome is still popular. It never really stopped selling. My first foray into faucets involved a trip to a higher end plumbing dealer here and he said in all the years he had been in business, polished chrome has always made up at least 50% of the faucets he sells, usually more, with the rest just making up an equal amount or less combined. The other finishes change in how much of his remaining market share they get, but no other single finish has ever sold MORE than chrome. Now I am sure there are other stores or distributors that would have had other experiences depending on where they are located and how long they have been in business, but that is from one person who has been in business around here for about 20-25 years.

Sue

Actually, polished nickel is way cooler than chrome! But, either way, I prefer a polished finish. Microfiber rags make cleaning waterspots really easy. The brushed look is a little too blah for me.

Price, price and price. Chrome is almost always the least expensive finish.

I talked to a customer rep at Newport Brass. They make the faucets for Restoration Hardware. I was trying to decide which finish to get. BTW the different finishes are the same price at RSTO. The Newport Brass person made it pretty clear that the chrome finish would stand up better over time. In some environments the difference might not be much. But especially in locations near the ocean, or if the fixtures are wiped and cleaned a lot, the chrome would stand up better. Also -- you might want to check this out for whatever product you're considering -- some lines warranty the chrome finish for a longer period than the other finishes. Personally I prefer the look of nickel and got that for the powder room but got chrome for everywhere else.