About Home Automation Cookbook
Home Automation Cookbook is written by Mads Kristensen for people who want a home that works without a briefing for every guest.
The goal is simple: the house should do the helpful thing, and the physical switch should still work when it does not. A good automation feels ordinary. A bad one leaves someone standing in the dark, looking for an app.
This site is here to help you remove small repeated tasks, make useful conditions visible, and feel confident changing the logic as your household changes. The technology is supporting material. The benefit is having less to remember and fewer interruptions during an ordinary day.
How recipes are chosen
Every recipe starts with a real household job: light a hallway, avoid heating an open window, or tell someone the laundry is done. The logic comes first. Platform instructions come second.
The site favors local automations where a platform supports them. Cloud and voice controls can be useful extras, but they should not be the only way to use a light, lock, or thermostat.
Family is the QA team
An automation is not finished because it worked once for the person who built it. It has to make sense to kids, guests, and the person who did not set it up. Feedback from normal use is the test that matters.
What is in the house
I started with Amazon Echo and Alexa, moved to SmartThings for broader device support, and now use Hubitat. Hubitat is my preferred balance: user-friendly and managed in daily use, with detailed rules and coding available when I need them.
I have not personally run Home Assistant. When I discuss it, I identify that distinction rather than presenting its capabilities as a hands-on review.
What this site is not
This is not a gadget review farm. It does not rank products by commission, invent test results, or require an app for ordinary household tasks.
For the design rules behind every recipe, read the home automation philosophy. For named devices I have used, see choose smart-home devices and gear.