Cats on the counter

My cats are not allowed on the counter....to a point.  I used to not allow them on there at all.  Unfortunately, when we got Copper we HAD to put it on the counter so he wouldn't eat all their food.  The nice thing is that the food is on the "breakfast" counter, so it's not where I cook food. 
 
With the butter problem, I ended up having to put the butter in the cabinet so Ash wouldn't eat it.  He KNOWS he not allowed on the counters, so when I do catch him in the act he hauls a$$ out of the room.
 
I've never tried the foil thing, but I thought he wouldn't care too much about it.  I also read someplace to try tape on the counters.

Cats aren't "allowed" on the counters, but I know darn well they get up there when I'm not looking, so everything gets a good wipe before I cook.

Now, the DOG! That's another story! Lucy is about 50 lbs but can hop right up on the counter better that the cats! She, too. knows that dogs on the counter are a no-no. But, like the cats, gets up there when she thinks I'm not looking. I'll see through the window with her head in the sink if I forget to put the kid's cereal bowls in the dishwasher before I leave for work. She'll also hop up on the dining room table when she gets really excited. And she still hasn't figured out that the 12" wide console table under the dining room windows wasn't put there so she could have her own personal squirrel viewing platform. She's even gotten to goodies stashed on top of the refrigerator by hopping up onto the counter next to it.

I'm used to counter surfers. Our Dal was incorrigable. Only arthritis stopped him. Lucy has taken counter surfing to a new level.

No cats on the counter or tables.  One of them just isnt a good jumper so no worries.  She has trouble jumping on the couch and bed, there's no way she can make the counter.  The other is allowed on the bathroom counter only, he sleeps in my bathroom sink.

We try to keep them off them, but Eli is the worst about getting on stuff being where he is not allowed including sleeping on top of the chinchilla cage.  Mocha is much better he doesn't get on top of counters/tables unless he wants to sleep on clothes plus he is having a harder time getting up on stuff.

The cats we have now don't show much of an interest in the counter tops - kitchen table is another matter.  I've had a laundry basket with a towel in it on the table for months just for kitties to sleep/hang out in. Wasn't planned - just happened.  I wash and replace the towels (I always tell them it's time to replace their linens).  The kitchen opens into the living room and they can hang there relatively free of canine interference, but still see us and be near us while we are TVing, etc.
 
But my little, tiny, beautiful girl Franklin lived with us prior to the rehab where we replaced siding/insultation/roof/ and 49 windows. The house was colder then and we used to have a hideous, harvest gold gas range. It was wider then a standard range - had a big, cast iron griddle in the center.  Our first winter here, I woke up one morning, headed to make coffee and found her curled up on the griddle (which was warm because of pilot light). I went back to our bedroom and said to DH, "Frankie's on the griddle" and he said, "Don't we have any sausage?"  So I found the griddle cover and put it on, but that was warm, too, so no use.  So I put pots all over the stove, but all our pots were cast iron and they got warm from the pilot lights and so I found my cat IN a pot on the stove.  So I turned all the pots upside down and that was too uncomfortable, so I found her on top of the refrigerator.  And the stove looked ridiculous with all the overturned pots.
 
I eventually went out and got burner covers for the four burners, left the griddle cover on and placed a folded bath towel on the griddle cover and she hung out there for years.  I just cleaned counters, etc., before cooking, which I really don't do all that often anyway.
 
Pofi and Mia, btw, with their long, long legs are far more invasive with the counters then the cats.  I had to put child proof covers on the knobs of the gas stove because Pofi was always turning the gas on...