I mean, I disagree that it ain’t broke. If all we’re doing is reskinning spells as potions, what do we need an Artificer for in the first place? We’ve already got a perfectly good Wizard we can say is making potions if we want to do that.
As for a better suggestion, I’d leverage Infusions. We’ve already got a Replicate Magic Item Infusion. Add scrolls, potions, and wands to the list of things it can replicate, or make a separate “Replicate Consumable” Infusion, give the Artificer a few more Infusions per day, and bob’s your uncle.