Kitchen tile options: which do you like better?

Here is my dilemma: We bought some tile on sale last year for our kitchen countertops. Now that we are getting ready to do them, I am not 100% on whether I like them or not.
Well, let me put it this way: if I could spend any amount of money in the world and was not poor and on a budget of next-to-nothing, I wouldn't probably pick this.
But, since we are on a budget, our house is not worth the amount of money to put in marble or a slab of granite, etc, our options are limited.


So, I give you the choices.


Choice #1: The existing tile we already have. We would be using the larger tiles for the counter, and the small squares for the backsplash. As they were on sale when we bought them, there wasn't enough to cover the entire wall from the counter to the cabinets. What we would do would be to use a strip like this, which is about 4 inches tall, and then top it with a small strip of painted moulding to finish it.





Choice #2: Use the existing counter tile we have with plain tile, which we would buy, laid in a subway pattern for a backsplash. Subway tile. I love the look. But, it is time-consuming to put up. And since I've decided that the tile on the left doesn't co-ordinate well, we'd be using white tile, like the tile on the right. So, would it be TOO white and shiny? Would it look kind of cheap since the counters would be nothing-special tile and not granite or marble, etc.?? I'm not sure about this, and the last thing I want to do is spend all weekend tiling a backsplash and then not really like it. Plus, Chris would refuse to re-do it, so I'd be stuck with it.





Here is a (poor quality) picture that shows the 2 choices again, with the (dingy and in need of a paint-job) white cabinets. My kitchen is small, doesn't get a ton of light, and is visible from the living and dining rooms.



The other option that we could do is to put down granite tiles for the counter, maybe with a 3-inch tall cut piece on top for the backsplash. We found a place that is selling certain colors of the tile for a very reasonable price. But if we bought them, we wouldn't have any money to buy anything (like subway tile) for a full backsplash. The color of tile we liked the best is close to this in the picture:
Option #3


If we end up purchasing any tile (granite or subway), then the tile we have already purchased will be used in our bathroom - which will also need to be redone in the near future. So, no wasted tile.

What do you think? Any suggestions?