There is a hugh variety of gravel and stone chips available. Some is expensive, some cheap. A lot of providers have display areas.
We did this to part of our front garden of our previous house. Took up the sod, put down weed barrier and poured/spread the stone chips.
Just make sure you put a good depth down, as otherwise the barrier can lift or the corners work their way to the surface.
If you want you can plant slow growning bushes/shrubs as well, e.g. red robin or hebees (sp?).
To my mind, looks a lot better than small patches of grass.