Need a new kitchen faucet

I need to buy a new kitchen faucet but am confused as to what constitutes the number of holes in the sink. I have a single handle faucet with deck plate and a side sprayer, which looks to me like it would be 2 holes when looking at it as is ( I will be getting another single handle faucet with a side sprayer.) When I actually look at the sink from UNDERNEATH though it has 4 holes - 2 with narrow copper pipes & shut off valves (hot & cold??) and 2 with what appears to be opposite ends of the sprayer. Sooooo, do I buy a faucet for a 2 or 4 hole sink? (My plumber will install it but I want something a little more decorative than what he would pick out if I leave it up to him). Many thanks to anyone who can help. LynnB

If looking underneath you see 4 holes, then that's how many holes you need to fill.

Most kitchen faucets fill 3 holes, and some with side sprays use the 4th hole.
If you don't fill the 4th hole with a spray, you can always put a soap/lotion dispenser there, or a flush cap. I prefer to put the dispensers in, they are handy.

The faucet you have would fit in a single hole, but you'd need a second one offset for the sprayer. The layout usually goes like this: single-all functions must be done through the one hole; double-one hole for the hot, one for the cold water supply inputs; triple-varies, sometimes there's one offset for the sprayer, sometimes, there is one each for the hot, cold, and spout; four-hot, cold, spout, sprayer, or other optional device.

The faucet you have may work without that plate, since the hot, cold, and faucet are centered - the plate may be removeable. Depending on the sink you buy, and the faucet you get, you may only need two holes - one for the faucet, and a second one to the side for the sprayer. The faucet I have on my kitchen sink has a pull-out sprayer as the spout, so I only needed one hole for all functions.

You need to decide on the faucet AND sink so you can pick items that will work. The cover plates can cover most of the holes, but then if you don't have a sprayer, you may need to punch one to the side, if needed. It depends on the sink, punching a hole in SS is possible, but I wouldn't consider it for say a cast iron; a composite sink, probably okay, but check with the manufacturer about warranty.

At my sink, I have (in the granit counter) one hole for a soap dispenser on the left, one hole for filtered water in the back, and one (larger) hole for the single-handled faucet/sprayer on the right. I found that the supply on the side was easier to reach, and with the swivel, made it easy to set a pan on the counter and fill it up. If it is in the back, it would be too unweildy to do that.

They have all kinds of uses for the fourth hole since many faucets have a spray built into the spout now. I too like the soap dispenser, or put in a water filter and drink some good clean water.

It really depends on how fancy you want to get with the sink and faucet.