Crafting Systems: Work Versus Reward

I don't have a lot of experience with crafting just EQ2, when I started you stall had a lot of tires to make a finished product, tacking base harvest items into refined ingredient, the those into a finished product, that was a little tedious. Then the system changed and it became too easy. I raised a provisioner up to lv 60 though all those changes, (worked on a few other toons too) I liked making good food and drink it seemed very useful and easy to share.
I have listened to lot of people complain about different crafting systems, but it always is the same the system is to easy or to hard lol
I think it would be fun to have a very versatile crafting system, one were you could make very basic stuff on auto pilot for 10 to 15 minutes so you could make a quick sandwich or go to the bathroom. Then you could make better items but have to pay attention and counter potential defects. Recycling would be a nice part of the system to have (a good habit to reinforce in general) so you can take your basic items, break them down add a few more ingredients, then make something better.
The really hard part will probably be coming up with a UI thats is original and interesting. Can I stir that pot with my mouse?