I stenciled mine. Cheaper than any tile!

DIY glass

Your cabinets and countertop choice are pretty neutral, both in color and pattern as well as in terms of style, which gives you a lot of flexibility with your backsplash. What overall style are you looking for? Something traditional, vintage, modern? What color are your appliances? What's your flooring? Favorite colors or colors you hate? Are you looking for something relatively calm or would you like a splashy (pun intended) focal point? Any other colors (like from adjacent rooms or artwork) to consider?

How about a marble backsplash, like one of these. The first two are really inexpensive from HD.

Paint!

(Or paint until you find something that really interests you.)

crl: thanks for the questions. the floors are a medium wood tone with reddish undertones. Our style is generally modern, but not super sterile or minimalistic... I would say a soft modern look. Our dining room chairs (which are in a dining area connected to the kitchen) are upholstered in a lilac color. The walls of the kitchen and dining area are off-white but we will have a large very colorful painting hanging of flowers with lots of yellows, blues, greens, purples, reds, pinks... I wouldn't mind a backsplash with some color but I don't want a bright color. My husband would prefer if the color wasn't totally consistent but we're not wedded to that idea. I am wary of going with a marble-ish look as I think it would be hard to get something that would look good against the London grey casearstone.

thanks!!

You can use inexpensive ceramic subway tiles in a herringbone pattern as shown above if your husband doesn't like the look of subways installed the traditional way.

My first thought is ceramic 6 x 6 tiles in a grid. But does your dh dislike just subways or would he also dislike squares?

My second thought is penny rounds. They are a really fun look and a very different shape from subways.

Glass tile would be another possibility. If you like glass mosaics, you could check out the Susan Jablon site. I have never ordered from it, but found it via the (much beloved and sadly gone) ikeafans site. You can make custom mixes of the mosaics which would let you do a tonal effect of whatever color you like.

Here's an example of penny rounds.

Manchester - Charleston, SC · More Info

They come in lots of colors and some can be reasonably priced.

Large scale tile, perhaps Costco Urban Groove
Urban Groove Costco

diymom79, I like your 3rd pic. What tile is that and do you have any idea of cost?

The colors in the painting make me think that a medium toned tumbled slate might be a good option for you. We are probably doing Golden White Quartzite by MSI, which is similar and might work for you as well. Most or all prices on all configurations for the Quartzite was under $10/sq ft.

Lowes has a lovely gray tile with pretty significant, but subtle, variation in it...Allen & Roth pearl. $4/sqft. My Lowes store did not keep it in stock, but they had a sample board in herringbone and it was so nice. I bought a box and really liked it alongside my quartz (white) and grey cabs. HD had some nice options too, including some in a color called glossy Gris. You have to weed through their websites though.

If you can go up to $10 or so, there are loads of options. Do you have a decent tile store near you? I found so many great options at mine. Senio Newport was one (alabaster craquele was my fave color).

Sorry the 3rd pic was just a Google serch for different marble backsplashes. The other 2 are from Home Depot.

diymom79, you don't know where to get that third one? What is the google search you did? I really like that one as well.

No sorry, it was a Pinterest pin under Water jet white marble. I did multiple searches and cannot find it for purchase. Sorry, next time I will make sure it's available, I was just trying to give her ideas.

kelleg69, ref your query about the 3rd picture posted by diymom:

Link below with the name of the designer who did it. "The backsplash is a mix of Oriental White and Bardiligio marbles"

[Backsplash[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/carlton-condo-traditional-kitchen-toronto-phvw-vp~2282648)

May not quite fall into the "inexpensive" bracket - affordable is relative :-)

I found a couple more inexpensive ones from Home Depot. Not sure what style you prefer.

oooh, @diymom79 - do you have a link to that quatrefoil tile? Its beautiful!

Not sure which is quatrefoil but the two tiles above are both from homedepot.com.

kelleg69, here is a link to the backsplash. There are no prices listed, but you can email for more info: Saltillo Marble Mosaics