Global recipes
A cuisine directory with searchable, step-by-step recipes representing food traditions across the world.
Purpose, process and learning
We built a table
without borders.
The Copper Spoon helps curious home cooks discover global recipes, learn visually, find memorable Lagos restaurants and receive fresh cooking inspiration every day.
For home cooksFor food explorersFor Lagos diners
Purpose and impact
Useful from the first click.
The project turns food discovery into action. Every major feature answers a real visitor question: What can I cook with what I own? How do I make it confidently? What should I plan this week? Which culture will I explore next?
Pantry matching
My Kitchen compares ingredients visitors already own with the full recipe library and ranks useful matches instantly.
Cook Mode
Scalable ingredients, spoken steps, built-in timers, keyboard control and screen wake lock support real cooking.
Flavour Passport
Saved recipes, weekly plans, shopping lists and countries cooked form a private journey stored on the visitor’s device.
Dessert journeys
A filterable dessert collection spanning Africa, Europe, Asia, the Middle East and the Americas.
Lagos tables
A practical dining guide organised by neighbourhood, with direct Google Maps location links.
Design and visual appeal
Warmth, heritage and appetite.
The design uses editorial typography, generous spacing and food-led photography. Copper and clay suggest cookware and warmth; cream keeps long recipes comfortable to read; sage adds a natural counterpoint.
CopperEnergy and actionSageFreshness and balanceInkClarity and contrastCreamWarm reading space
Editorial voice
Georgia gives food stories a timeless, human character.
Interface voiceArial keeps buttons, filters and instructions direct and readable.
Technical achievement
A complete cooking system.
The interface combines immediate browser-based intelligence with real account, email, offline and scheduled-delivery services—not demonstration buttons.
01Next.js interface
→Fast, responsive pages, installable PWA support and pre-built recipe routes.
02Kitchen Intelligence
→Pantry ranking, serving calculations, meal planning, timers and private local persistence.
03Connected services
→Supabase accounts plus Resend welcome messages, unsubscribe support and daily recipes.
04Reliable operations
Vercel schedules, health reporting, safe retries, automated tests and offline recovery.
Smartpantry matchingGuidedinteractive cookingOfflineinstallable kitchenPrivatepersonal planning
Challenges and decisions
Every obstacle shaped the result.
Challenge
A very large food library could feel overwhelming.
Decision
Use familiar filters, popular-choice buttons and searchable directories.
Result
Visitors can reach a useful recipe without knowing how to spell its cuisine.
Challenge
Desktop dropdown navigation did not translate well to phones.
Decision
Create an accessible mobile drawer with clear labels, Escape-key support and large tap targets.
Result
Every major area remains reachable on small screens.
Challenge
Account and email services can fail outside the browser.
Decision
Add friendly errors, environment health checks, safe retries and structured monitoring.
Result
Problems are clearer to visitors and easier for the site owner to diagnose.
Challenge
The brand needed to feel culturally grounded and globally welcoming.
Decision
Combine an African chef identity with copper, clay, cream and sage colours.
Result
The visual language feels warm, recognisable and connected to food culture.
Challenge
Most recipe sites stop at showing instructions.
Decision
Build a complete kitchen workflow: pantry discovery, planning, shopping, guided cooking and a personal passport.
Result
Copper Spoon now helps before, during and after someone cooks—not only while they browse.
Challenge
Personalisation often requires an account and internet connection.
Decision
Keep My Kitchen data private in the browser and make the core experience installable and offline-friendly.
Result
Visitors receive immediate value without surrendering personal data or completing registration.
Learning and reflection
What this project taught us.
Design for real choices
A large library becomes useful only when visitors can narrow it quickly. Search, filters and clear categories are part of the product—not decoration.
Reliability is a feature
A successful button animation means little if the email never arrives. External services need validation, retries, monitoring and human-friendly failure messages.
Accessibility improves everyone’s experience
Keyboard focus, reduced-motion support, semantic labels and mobile navigation make the interface easier for more people and more situations.
Culture deserves care
Global food should be presented with correct names, origin context and respectful imagery. Specificity creates trust and celebrates the people behind each dish.
Personal does not have to mean invasive
A useful pantry, meal plan and cooking history can live privately on a visitor’s device, work before sign-in and remain available when the connection disappears.
Design for the kitchen, not the desk
Large steps, screen wake lock, timers, speech and ingredient checklists respond to floury hands, busy pans and divided attention.
Inclusive by design
Made for more ways of browsing.
- Keyboard-visible focus and skip navigation
- Responsive mobile menu with large tap targets
- Alternative text and semantic page landmarks
- Reduced-motion support for sensitive visitors
- Clear form labels, status messages and recovery paths
- Spoken cooking steps and keyboard-controlled Cook Mode
- Offline access to previously visited kitchen pages
See the outcome