I think what you are talking about with the fold up counters is almost what we did as well. To the point of ready to cut them out, then when we saw Doug's "hitch receiver" tables, that sold us on that method since we already had a fold up table we could use until we got around to building them. Especially since when we actually looked at the dimensions, to go out and get past the curve of the back, the supporting leg would have to be really long and would have covered up the drawers we wanted. That made the galley much more attractive to us with closed doors on the two cabinets.
As for the ice chest, we carry it in the back of our RAV4. We actually take two smaller ones, one for drinks, one for food with block ice and more insulation. See sdtripper2's long discussion on how to keep ice colder for that whole concept. With the TD now what we throw in the back of the RAV is camp chairs, the fold up table (which will go when we have the hitch receiver tables, as they will store flat on the bed when traveling), some times the easy up, if there might be rain or lack of shade, dutch ovens, charcoal, firewood and my portable fold up shower and stove top hot water heater thinggy I rigged up from a metal weed sprayer. One of the tables we are building will actually be bottom-of-the-trailer height, and will come out the side, and the ice chest will go there while camping. That will bring it up to a nice off the ground height and be close to kitchen. If you are towing with a small car with limited trunk/back seat, then ice chest in the TD may be more important to you .
I wanted to put as much "ready to go" storage in the TD. We have so much storage space that we keep all our toiletries, untencils, pots, pans, linen, propane, some staples, misc supplies, air pump, fire extingusher, everthing but ice chest and perishable food stored in the TD all the times. All we load is clothes, what I said before in the RAV, ice chest and perishable dry food. We can be loaded and gone in 30 minutes.
Many people do keep at least a small ice chest or even a refrig in the galley, and love their set up, we just decided to go the other way. If you haven't checked out the various "do you cook in your galley" or "how important is a kitchen" threads, there are substantial arguments for any which way. Just have to think about how you cook and clean up. We didn't go with a sink, as we are used to the two dishpan wash and rinse method from our tent days, and a tiny sink just didn't seem worth it. JHB, who was also at the glyphs last year, has just about the same shape and size as ours, but has a pull out stove and oven, a Engel refrig/freezer, a small size sink with hot water heater, wouldn't change a thing with his layout. For them, the sink was a must and they love it. I'd love to have that refrig, but 600-700 $$ is out of our budget so ice chest in the Rav works for us. Doug Hodder's galleys are all set up the same, and he has a smallish vintage coleman pull out ice chest in each which looks great and meets his needs (or the folks he has now sold them to). He also has a pull out box where he puts his vintage coleman pump up stoves too.
Highly recommend going camping in your trailer before you finish designing and building your galley (yeah, I know you haven't even started yet). But get it campable then see how it works. We made a number of changes (including not puting in the ice chest) and more shelves in the cabinets, and my water drawer, after doing just that.) Doug would disagree, as nothing leaves his shop that isn't turnkey complete, but then again he has built either 4 or 5! For us first timers, there is nothing like trying it out.
If you want to stick with your cal king length (we are not over tall folks, but not short either, so I don't blame you), then you will sacrifice some cabinet space in your galley, although you can gain it back in the inside cabinets if you want.
As for hatch stability, we used the air shocks, and are very happy with them. Didn't have any problems with installation, only had to redo once! and very stable when up. Now, before we put them in and were using a stick, the hatch landed on my head first trip out cooking breakfast. Neck pain for 4 months. Made the decision then and there to go with the shocks!
I don't usually post like this, but you caught with an extra day off and avoiding laundry. I am actually working on making screens for the TD today. Hope this helps a little! See you next week.
Debbie