I still can't get this to work for some reason.  I modified it to update the correct category like so:

CREATE TRIGGER [CATEGORIES_PRODUCTS_INSERT] ON [dbo].[categories_products]

FOR INSERT

AS

BEGIN

UPDATE categories SET itemCount =...

Hi GilaMonster,

Thanks for your help and advice.  I sort of expected someone to comment on the cursor thing. 

The reason I don't want to...