Phil,

Thanks for the reply.

Another way is to fix a panel over the entire wall between the worktop
and the wall cupboards, battened out to about 2"*...

Yes, that has occurred to me - and is currently the favourite method. It
does mean losing 2" or so of worktop depth, of course, but that's probably a
price worth paying.

Bert
http://www.bertcoules.co.uk