Pretty sure it's already glass.

Square tile. Monolithic backsplashes.

I saw some 12 x 18 highly glazed tiles from Europe in the tile store that are designed for backsplashes. Somebody here used similar tiles. They are so glossy, they look like glass, but are not. They also come in patterns. I just hope they are still in the store when I'm ready to install mine. At my pace, maybe 2 years. LOL!

If my crystal ball lines up with what I find myself lusting after, then the next trend will be the Walker Zanger brick style beveled tile -- I love them when they have a little color in them. It's in the same vein as the subway but with a slightly disheveled hair cut -- sort of.

I'm putting my money on Arabesque tiles.

I think large format tiles will be in. Super-size subways. Big squares. Tiles that are 18 inches tall.

I also think patterned tiles will be in. (Meaning that a pattern is printed on the tile. Damask. Flowers. Moroccan motifs. Linen. Grass cloth. Bamboo.)

I'm betting on actual hair.

Stone slabs.

Mmmm, Marcolo, that hair backsplash is going to smell sooo good when doing high-heat searing on the back burners!

Ceramic tile (retro/vintage style) and beadboard. Not necessarily together, but I think both will be popular in the more traditional or cottage/bungalow kitchens. Just my two cents.

(Marcolo--That reminds me of a 150-post send up of a Kitchen Forum thread from a few years ago, started by Lowspark, I believe, which briefly devolved into a debate about dog hair backsplashes a la, "I always wanted a Golden Retriever fur backsplash, but, after reading a recent study, I realized that poodle fur backsplashes were hypoallergenic, so I'm going with that option." Inevitably, someone asked whether one could kasher those, and it was suggested she contact her rabbi.)

I think very bright patterns in the moroccan style. Though Martha Stewart herself has opined that the plain ol' 4x4's are what's going to be THE Thing.

When we were in the Netherlands a few months ago, almost all the kitchens we saw in the design centers had glass backsplashes. Most of them had the full solid color glass backsplashes we've seen here on GW, but there were also quite a few like this:

{{!gwi}}

Source: href='http://europe.bloombiz.com/default.cgi/action/viewproducts/productid/172929/productname/Printed_Kitchen_Splash_Back/'>europe.bloombiz.com via Jen on Pinterest

or custom ones like this:

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Source: tjadepetri.nl via Jen on Pinterest

or these, from pimpyourkitchen.nl, which has a ton of photos to choose from:

{{!gwi}}

Source: pimpyourkitchen.nl via Jen on Pinterest

{{!gwi}}

Source: pimpyourkitchen.nl via Jen on Pinterest

{{!gwi}}

Source: pimpyourkitchen.nl via Jen on Pinterest

marcolo, I'm betting on oversized forks and spoons with native carving on handles

I hope lavender-lass is right about the beadboard. I'm using it in my vintage kitchen to disguise wavy walls. :)

marcolo, here is a product I recommend for your backsplash--thinset and grout in one easy step:

In the future, everything will be BeDazzled.

LED display screens; you can make it look like anything you want, from lapis to the game of the week.
Casey

Mama- LOL! Beadboard is always popular, partly because it looks so classic...and partly because it's easier to install than many other choices. Yours looks beautiful :)

I think those customizable backsplashes that ICFGreen posted could be really popular if they had the right price point, installed easily and didn't look cheesy IRL.

I think some of the things people have mentioned--like slabs and beadboard--aren't really future trends, because we've seen them fairly often over the past few years. I ran into somebody's list of backsplash trends online. Have no idea who this person is, but I found it interesting, in the eight seconds of reading I devoted to it.

Here is a link that might be useful: Kitchen backsplash trends

Those large glass backsplashes (ICFGreen's pics) offer interesting possibilities, because you could use the transparency of glass to protect something interesting underneath: art, color, texture, pattern, writing, etc.

And that something could be relatively changeable when one's decorative tastes changed. Even the type, color, translucidity, texture of the glass itself could be an element. Proper gasketing/caulking around the edges would be needed to protect the underlying material from heat and moisture of kitchen, but there definitely possibilities there.

Or maybe that's what Marcolo had in mind by word, cheesy?

Perhaps the notion of the design assertiveness of the backsplash itself will change and it will recede into a position of just being vertical space under cabs and behind range with some other element becoming more focal?

L.

WOW, mirror tile back splash...

Omg I kind of love that mirrored backsplash although you really need the right kind of kitchen to pull that off.

The mirrored tile actually works, but, oh, that counter (onyx?) is awful.....

The bs-es by ICFgreen are nice and could be the new wave...

If I had to guess, there won't be only one bs style in favor as people realize all their options. Hopefully, there will be more variety....

I must have missed the memo about white subways when I was doing up my kitchen 3 yrs ago. It never dawned on my that there might be ONE fashion that everyone was doing because it was "classic" and "timeless".

I just headed to every tile store in town and tried to find one whose colours matched my cabs and counters. I saw hundreds of lovely tiles, all of which would have made stunning backsplashes in the appropriate settings. I'm sure I would have found hundreds more had I not found THE tiles for me at the 3rd or 4th shop.

But then, I'm all about colour. Fabulous materials and textures are totally wasted if the colours don't coordinate. My neighbours spent 3x what I did on my kitchen, and totally fell in love with glass tiles, even though there were none in the palette their KD provided that went with their granite. For what they spent, they should have ended up with a Spectacular Kitchen. What they got was sorta ok, because they didn't understand colour.

I'm really big on color, too. As for shape, it would be a natural evolution for the lovely new shapes stone is being cut into to be extended to mass market ceramic and glass tile, only even more.

This is what I want for my backsplash.

I don't know yet if it will be under glass, or just applied to the wall with SS behind range.

Looks like in Australia they are already using large format tiles.

(300 mm = 12 inches, about)

Here is a link that might be useful: AU Kitchens Splash Back

My current, newest obsession in square tile, brick-layed. 4x4, 6x6, it's like subway from a fresh perspective. I will rip out my backsplash every three years. What happens when you just love makeovers! I keep redoing, room by room, selling houses, I just want to make things pretty! There is always a great new idea I want to incorperate. My DH would say, "if you don't intend to buy, stop going to the store." Wise, but no fun.

To evolve slowly away from subway tiles, i predict that grout lines will be the same color as the tile. And that their rectangular shape will be stretched out to be longer, whether larger or smaller. Some will be smaller, like a baguette. Some will be larger, and that corresponds to the "large size" concept some have already expressed.