Hidden Kitchen
Algorithmic Home Cooking Application
Hidden Kitchen is a smart recipe app that simplifies meal planning, food prep, and nutrition tracking. By syncing with your grocery store purchases, it curates personalized recipes based on what’s already in your kitchen—eliminating guesswork and food waste.
Cobi Stancik
Cameron Lee
Christopher Pile
Michael Neese
Product Design
UI/UX
Web Design
User Research
Webflow
Figma
Protopie
Premier Pro
Illustrator
After Effects
It all started at the dinner table when my mom expressed frustration over meal planning, wondering, "If only something could tell me what to cook?" This led to an impromptu brainstorming session, exploring ideas like smart fridges, QR-coded groceries, and AI-powered ingredient tracking.
The result? A concept for an app that suggests recipes based on the food users already have—turning meal planning from a chore into a seamless experience.
The latest iteration of Hidden Kitchen offers:
Home Feed – Personalized recipe videos featuring meals users can make with their available ingredients.
Discovery Feed – A broader recipe exploration tool with integrated grocery coupons.
Navigation Tools – Search, Meal Calendar, Cookbook (for saved recipes), Shopping Lists (with sharing options), and a Shopping Cart for ingredient delivery.
This project began in June 2022 during my junior year and evolved through multiple iterations to balance user needs with an intuitive interface. Initially a solo effort, I later expanded the team with three skilled members in Business, Visual Design, and Interaction Design. Over time, the project underwent three distinct visual overhauls, each building upon the last to refine both form and function.
Though this project had its challenges, I couldn't have been more proud of the team's work. We submitted and participated in the University of Washington Dempsey Startup Competition. We built a company website which was showcased during the event along side our live demo, we had Hidden Kitchen on display for over 130 judges.
Additioally for my individual work on this project it received Best App Design at the National Student Show, a 2x Silver Awards for Mobile App Design from the Indigo Design Awards, I was a Core77 Noteable within the Consumer Technology category, and was nominated for the New Talent UX DESIGN Award.
View the product site:
Overall, Hidden Kitchen could be used to transform meal planning by providing smart, ingredient-based recipe recommendations, helping users reduce food waste and streamline cooking. The app received multiple design accolades, including Best App Design at the National Student Show, and was showcased as a senior capstone project at the University of Washington's Jacob Lawrence Gallery. Its intuitive experience and innovative approach positioned it as a standout in user-centered food technology.
