I've had customers spend $600, and $3000. There's a wide range of prices and quality. And there's a wide variety of sizes in kitchens as well! So some depends on how many square feet we might be talking about.

It might be mostly decorative, but it is something that you will see every single day for 10, 20, maybe even 40 years.

How much can one expect to spend? As much or as little as one wants. Everyone has different budgets and priorities.

I haven't finalized my back splash choice, but my front runner is about $6K for tile only. Good size kitchen, but not that much wall space. I live in an area with very high real estate costs, so I'm not "over-improving" for the house or area.

@Chess - yes, that's a handy thing to have around! ;)

Darn sure is. :-)

I live in an area that has very high real estate costs, but interestingly, it's still a regular suburban neighborhood with a bunch of mid-century ranch homes and low turnaround (or even remodeling, sigh): no one is going to recognize Fire Clay tile vs. something from HD or Lowe's. :-\

Unfortunately, once we start talking about thousands in cost, that's a huge chunk of my budget - given that, it's hard to see the sense in spending on backsplash.

I forgot to mention: there's 36 sq ft needed, including overage.

For that small amount you should be able to find something nice that isn't too expensive. My backsplash tile was around $20 a square foot not installed

Mine was just over $11 a sf. Very reasonable. I did look online at more expensive tiles, but I simply lucked out finding the exact thing I was looking for, at Lowe's. No reason to pay more, at all if you can find something you like for less!

Looking online, I'm seeing 6-10 per square foot, with some in the 20+ range, all for 3x6in subways.

You could spend $300-$1,000 on materials for a 50 square foot backsplash.

My kitchen was well into six figures and I didn't spare a lot of expense, but the backsplash was only $12/sq ft. And it was probably the only thing in my kitchen from home depot. Including grout and trim pieces the total material cost was about $650.

I think mine cost about 4k, and my kitchen isn't very big (12x12) I had back painted glass, and they have to template, do cutouts for outlets, etc and make the outlet covers as well, all which drive up the price.

Cost of Glass Tile Backsplash Calculator

I picked a 4 x 16 regular, plain subway tile from a tile store and it was $3.99 sq/ft.