plastic and painters tape is what we are using. the areas holding the tape have cured paint though, we're not taping on the new side.

i prefer to have to touch up than to deal with all the dust.

I didn't find counter top install to be particularly dusty. My guys always do all their cutting, polishing and tweaking outside on the truck. The only thing they did inside was drill the faucet hole.

Find out how much cutting they plan to do in your kitchen. It can be very very dusty. We wrapped all our drawer slides to protect them. We taped plastic everywhere. It was well worth the effort.

DH uses a type of extension/tension poles with plastic to create a barrier when doing dusty jobs for people. He rigged up his own; I can try to ask him the details when he is home if you want more info. His setup looks a lot like the one I'm linking below. I tried to paste a picture (and failed.)

Here is a link that might be useful: EZ Prop poles

I did what laughable suggests, again, rigging my own. I used 8-foot-long 1x2s, with a piece of 4x4 beneath it to make the 1x2s tight against the ceiling.

Thanks to everyone for ideas. I will check to see if friends have some boards for the props. etc.

1x2s are less than a dollar at HD.