If you want to change up the area behind you cooktop perhaps you could do a herring bone pattern with your subways tile and outline it with the pencil edge. GWer mamadadapaige did that in her kitcehn and it looks very nice. Not sure if I am allowed to post someone elses picture but here is her backsplash

We had that silver backsplash from HD at our last house behind a 5 burner electric cooktop and never had a problem w/ it. Our largest burner was middle back and I used it frequently. Hope this helps!

Deb: $125 per foot!!! Oh my! That's almost twice as much as I paid (prefabricated, I paid $40.38/sq ft). I did some testing and while it did MUCH better than the marble, there was some staining (not etching) on my pre-sealed sample when I had a few food stains that sat for 24+ hrs. My fabricator claims that sealing the granite should take care of the light staining that I saw, so I am trusting him. I actually don't care that much if I have some "lived in" looked. I have lived with marble so I know what that feels like, I am just hoping to defer some of that permanent etching that we had. If you have white cabinets and a wood island, I might actually think about the Caesarstone if you can't find the white princess. I was pleasantly surprised to see a showroom by Christopher Peacock that was done in the Caesarstone that looks like marble and it was REALLY pretty. I would never have believed it unless I saw it myself. Wish I could have taken pics but they wouldn't let me! The other option I love is concrete! Might be too un-traditional for your style, but I really like the counters in my friend's house and they are very light gray--and very easy to take of! Despite what some people say, she has never had a staining problem. They have a gorgeous patina that is really pretty and I love them with the white counters. Not her kitchen, but similar--look how pretty the concrete is! From Menlo Farmhouse

Practigal- cleaning the grout is no different than if there wasn't a feature tile. The only other thing I can think of that would require less work cleaning is a stainless panel. I also didn't know arabesque was so popular!! I thought I was on to something unique ;)