We are making progress. Thanks to those of you who recommended tape loops. The kitchen counter top is/was accessible from the living room and from the kitchen in my apartment. (There is a bar area between the two rooms.) I bought a two-piece cat fence and that blocks most of the access from the living room. Half of the fence on each end of the bar. Between the two fence pieces is a computer printer. I keep a towel over it to keep dust off. When I''m in the kitchen Ebony likes to sit there and sneak down onto the counter while I am preparing food. So I took a big cloth napkin that covers the top of the printer towel. I put loops of clear packaging tape, sticky side out, and stuck the loops on the napkin. Did the trick! Ebony has tried to touch the napkin tape loop with her paw, which she hates. She also tried to bite the tape,and didn't like to do that either. So access from the living room to the kitchen counter is totally blocked now. What remains is if she jumps onto the counter from the kitchen floor. I hope to make some sort of clicker command that will alleviate the problem there. See my new thread "Clicker Training" to discuss.

I don't know how to put this in a P.C. way, but "on top of things" are the cats' natural place to be, if you want to allow them to be a cat. That is where they feel safe. Try laying face up on the kitchen floor with your hands on the floor too and have people stepping all around you to get an idea of what it's like down there. Add or allow room on additional shelves around for them to perch on - give them an alternative. I've always allowed my cats (had 17 in the past 20 years) to be anywhere they want including the counters, and my life hasn't diminished in the slightest. Actually it's better as I allow them to know it's their home too and everyone is happy. Just wipe the counter more often, but know also that we and our "germ-fighters" are more of a threat to them too. A warm, damp cloth and a drop of Dawn dish soap is sufficient.

I see so many complaints about cats being cats, I wonder why those people have them in the first place.