Best way to clean a countertop if you are preparing food on it
There is a difference between cleaning and sanitizing.

Cleaning


If you have something greasy on the counter then you need some sort
of detergent to solubilize the grease. (You might want to then use a vinegar solution to be sure and get all the detergent off the counter.) 
If you were doing something like kneading bread, then you need
something a bit more abrasive to scrub the countertop to get off
stuck bits of dried out dough.


Sanitizing


A diluted bleach solution works well. (Say if you leaked some juice from raw meat on the counter.)