We have a couple of cats, the mother and her kitten (cat now). Both different temperaments. Mummy is very timid, wants petting on her terms, kitten when she’s in lets us know. As for training…. Neither go on the counters (when I’m there) but I’ve found kitten feathers on the windowsill in the kitchen proving she does get up but only when I can’t see her and tell her off! 
Cats are clever and sneaky and hilarious. 
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Cats don’t have sitters, they have staff 
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I love ‘Simon’s cat’ because that’s how cats are! I’d love my 3 would be more ‘cuddly’. Cats are quite different in behavior than dogs. I try to give a exact description of the character of my pets to a HS.
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I have been on a sit where the cats were used to being fed on the kitchen counter. This was not where the HO usually cooked, they had a different kitchen for that. But it was the kitchen for me. So when I did something there, they would come in and jump on the counter and expected to be petted and expected food. They sniffed at everything: food, packaging, knives, dishes, they would be all over my hands.
Not the cats’ fault, but I could not stand it. None of the previous sitters had mentioned it in their reviews.
On other sits I have not had this problem with the cats. On the most recent one, the cat would sometimes jump on the kitchen counter. Then I only needed to stare at her and say “no no” from the couch and she would jump down.
I wouldn’t like this behavior from a cat either. But I recognize it as normal. They also make me sneeze and itch. So my solution? Don’t take sits with cats.
Completley agree with @CatsAndDog and @Elsa1 that cats can be trained.
The many we had never went on kitchen counters, a firm, audible “no” , pick them up and put them back on the floor & then “good cat” & fuss. Never had a problem .
I also agree they recognise hand signals well. I even had a cat i trained to stop & follow because he liked a regular walk…
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Of course cats are way more superior than us humans and know what they want in life!
As for sits a couple, we’ve had the cats were fed on a counter or table in a seperate part of the kitchen to where we would use so that didn’t bother us. There were dogs in these places, so they probably worked better for the HO.
Our last multi cat sit one would jump on the counter at food time. We didn’t know if this normally happened or he was testing new person boundaries, but i just picked him up and popped him back down, gave him a fuss and he only did it an odd time.
So yes, i think cat’s get boundaries
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I should clarify maybe regarding “you cannot train a cat not to go on the counter” - what I meant is that you cannot train a cat not to do something just through conditioning them like with dogs. I think there’s a large number of cat owners who believe that’s how cats behave and that that’s the reason why the cat doesn’t do something after being told no a couple of times (it’s not).
I found @Marion 's message really interesting regarding the cat not going on the counter because they think it’s the owner’s territory. I’m going to try that 