Sharapova, que ganó Wimbledon con 17 años en 2004, elimimó a la alemana Sabine Lisicki tras ganar por 6-4 y 6-3 en la segunda semifinal femenina disputada en el All England Club.
Antes, Kvitova, octava cabeza de serie en Wimbledon, había derrotado a la cuarta favorita, la bielorrusa Victoria Azarenka, por 6-1, 3-6 y 6-2 en una hora y 44 minutos.
Kvitova, de 21 años, declaró que "no puedo creer que esté en una final de Wimbledon. No puedo decir nada, sólo que estoy muy feliz".
La mejor actuación de la checa en un Grand Slam había sido precisamente en Wimbledon, el año pasado, cuando llegó a semifinales.
There's something about Maria: Sharapova gives it her all as she grunts her way to Wimbledon final
Service not included! Sharapova powers to final despite suffering double fault despair
Seven years ago, a beaming and carefree 17-year-old Maria Sharapova won the ladies' singles title on a sun-kissed Centre Court.
The more pragmatic lady of 24 will be hoping for rain on Saturday and a closed roof, judging by the havoc that the merest whiff of wind is wreaking with a serve that has become a liability
Tossing the ball up in a smooth arc is an art form that is taken for granted until it goes awry at all manner of angles. The simple becomes problematic, the hand doesn't listen to the head and the mind stirs in doubt.
Cue the tennis equivalent of golfing yips. Thirteen double-faults in only nine service games is not the stuff of champions. Or maybe it is. If Maria doesn't have a clue what is coming next or where her serve is going, how can her opponent?
Weakness became a strength in the drip, drip, drip of double faults on Thursday and Sharapova emerged a 6-4, 6-3 victor over Sabine Lisicki
The German girl wanted to stand inside the baseline to swing harder and sooner at the Sharapova second serve. Trouble was, no rhythm meant no rhyme and certainly no reason to be confident of the ball's destination.
It was as likely to clip the outside of the line as plop harmlessly into the net. Lisicki lost clarity in her own thought process and second-guessed her way to distraction, surrendering the advantage as she did so.
Thankfully, the rest of Sharapova's game – brutish hitting so flat that the ball is skidding past her startled opponents – is compensating for the vagaries of the serve.
It is why she chose to receive in the opening game of the match. If she could, the fifth seed would probably let Petra Kvitova start every point in the final.
'My ball toss was all over the place. I'll have to work on it,' said Sharapova in the understatement of the fortnight.
'From the beginning I felt like I was rushing things. She's someone who has pretty big swings so I didn't really want to give her too many looks on second serves. Maybe I overthought it.
'Experience is an incredible asset to have because you've been through situations before. Even though things weren't going my way in the beginning, I went back to basics.'
As well as age and wisdom, the commodity Sharapova possesses in greater helpings than the girls she has swept away without the loss of a single set so far is presence on court.
At ease on Centre in two previous matches this tournament, Lisicki was thrown by the size of Thursday's occasion.
For Sharapova, her courtside seat felt as comfortable as that favourite armchair at home. Meanwhile, up in the players' box, her basketball superstar boyfriend Sasha Vujacic also looked at ease in his grandiose surroundings, interspersing fist-pumps and guttural words of encouragement with lobbing sticks of chewing gum to a couple of corporate female guests across the stairwell.
Knowing that the stage is yours - a sentiment with which Hollywood legend Robert Redford, looking on from the Royal Box, would no doubt concur - is a gift granted to champions.
Lisicki does not yet possess it, panicking over a 3-0 lead rather than building upon it, allowing belief to escape when Sharapova mounted her comeback and all but begging umpire Louise Engzell to suspend play because of raindrops when she stood 2-0 and 0-30 down in the second set.
When she did finally decide that there was a place in the women's final to be fought over, it was too late. In spite of - not because of - her serve, Sharapova clinched a return to her coming-out party venue of seven years ago.
'I remember I was so thrilled to be in the final back then. I had been down and out in the semis, ready to pack my bags and go home. It just happened to rain and I was able to turn things around.'
The Centre Court roof means that rain can have little effect nowadays - except on a dodgy service action.
Kvitova through to maiden Grand Slam final with yelping (fore)hand
One thing about Petra Kvitova making it to the Wimbledon final, her first in a Grand Slam - it will be quieter.
Had Victoria Azarenka and Maria Sharapova ended up carrying their bouquets of flowers on to Centre Court on Saturday the All England Club would have risked another stiff letter from Health & Safety officials if they failed to provide ear plugs for spectators.
As it transpires, the final will not be grunt-free. Shazza is a screamer, especially when in trouble; Kvitova, while the least voluble of the four semi-finalists, still lets out a yelp when hitting a clean winner, especially on her formidable forehand.
Pure delight: Petra Kvitova celebrates her semi-final win over Victoria Azerenka to reach the final
With the 21-year-old from the Czech Republic firing 41 winners to Azarenka's paltry nine in her 6-1, 3-6, 6-2 win, Centre Court sounded a bit like Battersea Dogs Home.
Add to that Azarenka's squealing on every shot and the ringing of a fire alarm which stopped play for a minute and you have a right assault on the senses.
By and large, grunting has been seen as an issue for the women over the years. When Monica Seles first started backing up her groundstrokes vocally, it was seen as a clarion call for grunting.
Kvitova will have to take second best to Sharapova in the noise battle, as she will in nearly every other department, from age and experience to achievements. But she reckons to have one trick up her sleeve.
'Left-handed,' she replied instantly and with conviction when asked if she might have any advantage over the Russian.
Indeed, the left-handed serve is often thought to cause as many problems for right-handed tennis players as southpaws do against orthodox boxers.
Kvitova is the first left-hander to reach the final since her childhood idol, Martina Navratilova in 1994. And the nine-time Wimbledon singles champion, seated next to Richard Branson, watched as her countrywoman out-hit the Belarusian No 4 seed.
'At he start of the tournament I tipped Kvitova to take the title and I've not seen anything to make me change my mind,' said Navratilova.
A well-directed swerving rather than particularly fast serve, allied to a huge forehand, won Kvitova the first set in just 27 minutes.
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