Tough one! I'm thinking some kind of blue would be least likely to contrast with the mauve, but I'm also wondering of a warm beige might work, too.

Actually, Ultimate Kitchens (a higher end tv show) had a chef's kitchen where the owner/chef had spent only $160 to have his laminate counters professionally repaired and resurfaced. It was trendy and contemporary. Definitely worth looking into.

I guess I don't get why you say painting the counters "isn't in the budget", because it's one of the cheapest and highest-impact updates they could do to this kitchen, and instead of fooling around with trying to minimize a quintessential 1980s color they can do it once and be done with it. If they're lucky enough to score "oops" paint or free recycled paint from the transfer/recycling station or Freecycle (Freecycle.org for their local list), it can cost next to nothing. It will not hold up for a long time (multiple years) but if treated with some reasonable care it will hold them over for a year or two until they can replace the counters. Depending on the layout of the kitchen, design of the counters (postform vs. flat), and how picky they are about their materials (stock laminate sheeting or premade postform counter vs. custom-order materials), new or relaminated counters probably cost less than they think and could be in the cards in a matter of months.

Or, there's the approach we're taking with our house's cosmetics... Suck it up and ignore it until you can afford to do something with it. :-) I'm teasing, partially, and I do very much understand the "OMG I hate this so much I can't stand it" feeling. Trust me, I'm hip-deep in it with the house we moved into last September. For example... The kitchen and bathroom were "remodeled" in late 2006 while the house was vacant - it was a badly abused rental for about 10 years and then a poorly-done flip - but with the cheapest garbage you can think of. We've lived here for six months and parts of both rooms are literally falling apart. But, the house needs more serious work than cosmetics and it would be beyond idiotic to spend money to, say, replace the cheesy particleboard cabinets when heaven only knows what'll happen when we jack up the house! With a new-to-you (generic you, not ancy-you) house, sometimes it's better to just not touch anything cosmetic for a few months while everything settles down, especially since there are always the "well, I didn't expect THAT to happen!" repairs that eat a hole right through your pockets... in the first 3 months after we moved in we had to cough up almost $5000 in emergency repairs to the heating and electrical systems even though our home inspector had given them both the thumbs-up. Many tears there because there was a lot else I wanted to do with that money! We learned with our first house that if it's functioning and there's more crucial stuff on the to-do list, it's amazing what you can teach yourself not to see for a while if you need to get other stuff squared away first. Of course we all want our homes to look perfect right away, nothing wrong with that, but when the budget is skimpier than a St. Tropez bathing suit and the to-do list is long "something's gotta give".

NOW, that all said, I think a chocolate brown might be a definite possibility and would go nicely with the cabinetry. Chocolate brown on walls is very "in" these days. Deep charcoal gray is something to consider too, especially if it's in the budget to get a few cans of matte silver spray paint to hit cabinet hardware and light fixtures with and accessorize with lots of silvery, black and white stuff. It's very hard to work yellows with golden oak but I have seen a few kitchens with mauve counters and buttercream-yellow walls that looked okay, but I think that might not quite be the direction your "kids" want to go in.