Ah the counter "thud". My cats are notorious counter kitties. They don't knock anything down but they love to sit on the stove and look for scraps of food. They see us preparing food on the counter and as soon as we turn our backs, boom! they're up on the counter. Every morning when I get up and open the bedroom door, I hear the "thud".

The water bottle thing never worked for us either because they would always jump off as soon as they heard us make the slightest movement. And when they jump off, they run. They know they're not supposed to be on the counters, but they're cats and they do what they want.