Six conversations that shaped SageBook — real voices from real kitchens sharing their cooking struggles, dreams, and what makes them feel confident with food.
Discover the Stories ↓We conducted six semi-structured interviews with beginner and intermediate home cooks, each lasting about 20 minutes. The goal was to understand their cooking habits, frustrations with existing apps, and what would make a cooking assistant like SageBook more engaging and helpful.
Most users relied on a mix of YouTube, Google, and recipe apps, but found them either too cluttered or lacking in-depth guidance.
Beginners often felt intimidated by complex recipes and wished for clearer mistake prevention tips.
Intermediate cooks wanted skill-building features, like mastering techniques (e.g., knife skills, dough handling).
Gamification was polarizing—some loved badges and streaks, while others found them unnecessary.
Cottagecore aesthetics were universally appealing, making users feel more relaxed while cooking.
"I usually cook simple meals but get stuck when a recipe assumes I know things like 'sauté until golden.' How golden? For how long?"
"I use Pinterest and AllRecipes, but I hate when the recipe is buried under a long blog post."
"I've ruined dishes because the recipe didn't warn me about common mistakes, like overmixing batter."
"I like when apps have timers built into the steps."
"Video tutorials are helpful, but sometimes I just want text."
"Some apps have too many ads or pop-ups."
"I don't like when apps force me to create an account just to save recipes."
"I'd love an app that teaches me why certain steps matter, like why you chill cookie dough."
"A visual ingredient substitution guide would save me so many grocery trips."
"If the app had a friendly voice guide, I'd use it hands-free while cooking."
"Badges for trying new cuisines would motivate me!"
"I don't care about points, but tracking progress on skills would be cool."
"Seeing tips from other cooks would make me feel less alone in my mistakes."
"The cottagecore vibe sounds cozy—like cooking with a wise grandma."
"A warm, encouraging tone would make me less nervous about messing up."
Access the complete interview materials including our question framework and detailed transcripts from three key participants.
The semi-structured question framework used across all six interviews.
View QuestionsEmbed warnings and tips throughout recipes (e.g., "Don't overmix!").
Provide both video and text instructions for different learning preferences.
Include mini-tutorials on fundamental techniques like knife skills and dough handling.
Some users love badges and progress tracking, others prefer to focus purely on cooking.
The warm, cozy visual style creates a comforting, approachable cooking environment.