Of course, the cat lover in me says let them have their way but the realist (?) in me has to worry about them getting burnt on the stove, knocking something glass off that would break and then they'd get glass splinters, or getting their head stuck down the sink's drain.

After many, many, MANY arguements with the cats getting on DH's nerves by getting on places where cats are not allowed (such as the top of the entertainment center and knocking stuff off that broke or scratching on the bedroom door all night), I bought a Scat Mat. It is a plastic mat that when stepped on will give off a shock (like a bad static cling shock) . I wish I would have gotten it years ago.

It comes with instructions on how to train your pet with it. For in front of the bedroom door they learned to avoid it by sight (after all they ARE allowed in the bedroom when we aren't sleeping). So I have the dummy mat (looks the same but doesn't shock) so we can roll it out every night. For the entertainment center, we set it up there and covered it with a towel so they couldn't see it. They learned to associate the top of the entertainment center with a shock and now they stay off. You could do that with the counters.

Now if I could just find some great training device for the DH....
j

PS... I tried both aluminium foil and sticky tape, neither worked.