A broom is a tool: Sweep things into a pile as I drop stuff as I cook, because mashing something with my foot into the floor just adds more time to cleaning up. Regularly visiting dog understands it is a good hang out place for morsels brought to him.
A shelf with often used seasonings, pepper grinders and salt just left of the stove. Only recently started using a diner-type tall sugar dispenser for holding sugar. A teaspoon or a half-cup sugar as needed without searching for the sugar bowl (on the dinner table) or opening the large sugar container.
When I bought an instant read thermometer, it was primarily intended for evaluating roasts and birds. Meatballs and sausages (thin and thick) get evaluated just as much. I never thought it would be so handy for checking baked goods, too. My thermopen lives in a drawer next to the stove. I am only sorry I did not buy one earlier.
Church key - While it is rarely used exactly as intended, it does help gently lift the edges of a jar lid to release the vacuum to open it. I am refering to commercial one-piece lids. Mine is a chicken head picked up at a rummage sale, so it is easy to find in a drawer.
Scissors in every top drawer in the kitchen. There is always something that needs opening and a scissor is right there and then goes back to its home. Yeah, sometimes I find some congregating in one drawer or another. In general, it works out in my favor and saves time.
Small sheet pans (8x6 roughly) with racks - Visiting a friend who lives alone a few years ago, I noticed these seemingly impractical small sheet pans. Yet very useful when I need to cook or reheat a small quantity, roast some seeds or bake a few cookies from frozen dough, and pops into the dishwasher with no fuss. I also use it to air dry steaks in the refrigerator without taking lots of room. All I have were picked up at rummage sales. I have a feeling they were inserts for toaster ovens.
My friend the dishwasher, because I would cook far less if I had to clean by hand. Current dishwasher is a dishdrawer system, which I have come to really like. As I cook, stuff goes in the dishwasher. If I have guests who might put their dishes into the machine later, I fill the bottom with cooking dishes first. I try not to let people bend down to fill it. I am sure it is a courtesy nobody even thinks I am doing, but I feel better about it.
Lots of stainless steel bowls of various sizes all nested together. The smallest maybe holds just over a cup and largest at least two quarts. When I have some big project, I have a nested bowl and collander holding maybe two gallons more or less.
One-cup stainless steel Italian coffee press: Makes exactly one cup of coffee. It is stored in a pint measuring glass used for heating the water. Gets the job done and gets out of the way.
Pint measuring containers are sitting at least four locations in the kitchen: coffee, by the nested bowls, left of the stove with often used spices, and another nested with measuring containers (quart, pint, cup and dry measures). If the cup and quart disappeared, I would not miss them. The pint is the liquid measuring workhorse. Just because of the nesting, the quarter-cup dry measure gets used the most because it is easy to grab.