One seemingly minor feature that Google still has not added in Android, even in KitKat, is the ability to show battery percentage in the status bar. This feature has been present in iOS and other OEM Android skins since quite sometime now, so its lack in stock Android even after all these years is somewhat embarrassing. 

While it is possible to display the battery percentage on the status bar using third party apps on the Play Store, they also display a persistent notification in the notification bar, thereby adding unnecessary clutter. Most custom ROMs also have this feature in-built, but that requires users to unlock, root and flash their device for a very simple feature.

http://youtu.be/4RFgpz-lpPM

Thankfully, an XDA user – kroegerama – has developed an app that displays the battery percentage on the status bar, right on the battery icon. Since the text color is white in color, the visibility of the text increases as the battery meter goes down. The benefit is that the app does not require root access to work. Sadly, without root access, the app is pretty limited in nature as well and does not allow changing of text color or its position.

Head over to this XDA thread to download the APK of the app.