That is what I grew up with - my parents put the cat dishes up on the worksurface so the dogs would not pinch the food. However, it was in a corner of the kitchen and an area we never used for food preparation. I wouldn't want it to be an area used for food, that is for sure. I wouldn't say it completely freaks me out, though. I grew up in the country with lots of animals so I'm not too food-hygiene obsessed. I pick stuff up and eat it if it drops on the floor. It never did us any harm! In my own kitchen, I wouldn't do it though. In fact the cats were a bonus. I'd rather they were the ones on the work surfaces, rather than the mice we kept on getting after the cats died. We have to poison them or we'd be overrun. I went in my wardrobe to find that mice had eaten several pairs of my shoes as well as having eaten holes in my clothes, and my Mum had to get her walking boots repaired after they chewed through the leather. The worst thing is when you come down into the kitchen in the morning and see them scurrying across the floor and work surfaces when you turn off the light. Mice on the work surfaces is definitely worse than cats. They leave droppings and don't have bladder control.