If you use a container that is made from something that doesn’t conduct heat so well it would both protect your counter and require less energy to keep the water bath at the requisite temp. I use a small Igloo cooler for lower temp cooking and a commercial food storage container (attached link) for higher heat. Neither container would transfer enough heat to what they are sitting on to do any more damage then melt butter.
FYI- if the container we sous vide in gets hot on the outside it takes more energy to stay hot on the inside and creates a less stable temperature throughout the bath. Think of those fancy coffee cups that keep coffee hot most the day. The outside of the cup is always cool to the touch, even with scalding hot coffee on the inside. This design isn’t built to protect our hands from the heat but to conserve the heat. Any heat we feel on the outside is lost.
I digress. The point is that good conductors of heat are ideal for the stove top and good insulators are more effective for sous vide.