Tools

As my favorite Food Network food scientist (Alton Brown) states, there is no reason you should ever have a single task kitchen gadget.  It's a waste of money.  Anything that you own in your kitchen should be able to serve multiple purposes.    Keep this in mind when purchasing little kitchen gadgets.  It's easy to get caught up in the excitement of finding that perfect tool to accomplish those random tricky kitchen tasks, but might you already have something that can do the trick?

Cookie Sheets
You'd be surprised what good finds there are at your local Restaurant Supply house.  I purchased two oversized (half sheet) baking sheets with a one inch lip on them.  They are heavier duty steel than the typical ones you can find at superstores.   This means they bake more evenly and clean nicer.  I also prefer them because I can use them for baking cookies, roasting vegetables, pouring hot caramels into and even baking cinnamon rolls without fear of the gooey parts running over the edge.  Thus my multi purpose cookie trays are a good find.  Not to mention that they are half the price of fancy airbake ones, which have no edge on them, rendering them only useful for neat little cookies and non spill items.

Silpat baking mats
I have seen these used on many a professional cooking show on TV, and have seen them called for in many cookbooks.  However, they tend to be a bit pricey so I have procrastinated in purchasing one.  I was perusing the aisles of my local  Restaurant Supply house and noticed that they have a cheaper version of silpat.  It still wasn't cheap, but much less.  I believe I paid about $12 a piece in stead of the $30-$40 in the big block kitchen stores.  I must say that I have grown to love them!  While they are certainly not a kitchen requirement, I would suggest you get them if you do a fair amount of baking.  They seem to help things cook more evenly, particularly cookies, and help things not to brown too fast on the bottoms.  They are excellent for working with sticky items, as NOTHING sticks to them, and they don't require any extra greasing of the pans, due to thier non stick properties.  They are also super easy to clean, and pretty compact to store.