Do we have any advocates of the above on here please? The one that has caught my eye, is the Cosori Dual Blaze that has heating elements top and bottom. It will get some use as I have a Halogen oven that I use several times a week. Anyone any thoughts please?
It has just gone up in price by £10 since I last looked 10 minutes ago!
Air Fryers
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I bought a Ninja about a year ago and I’m a big fan. It cooks so much quicker than an oven and will definitely be saving on energy costs. We lent it to my brother and sister in law when we went on holiday and they loved it so much they went out and bought one too. They bought a better model than our one which has temperature probes etc. and they do roast ribs of beef etc. in theirs.
This was the one I bought (costs £20 less than I paid at the time if I recall correctly):
This is the one they went for:
We originally looked at the one with 2 seperate sections which looked amazing but was just too big for our kitchen. I still need to work out where my Skuma is going to go lol
everyone has jumped on these,
dont they take like a yr to earn back their cost?
my dad has a small one which does chips, but for me the mc cain triple cook are the best haha
Decent De1pro v1.45 - Niche Duo - Niche Zero - Decent is the best machine ever made -
I have a halogen oven now which I like but one thing it does not do well, is crisp things up. At 1700 watts it is 1300 watts less than a normal kitchen oven, plus having a heating element top and bottom I believe it cooks things evenly and even faster than a normal air fryer without the need to stop and turn things over.
Have to find a decent recipe site now!
dfk41 It has just gone up in price by £10 since I last looked 10 minutes ago!
They are clearly price segmenting aggressively. I just did a search using an “incognito” window, and the price is £179.99 for me… 😁
I bought mine more for doing healthier chips etc. It’s extremely versatile and very easy to clean (dishwasher safe etc.). The fact It’s a lot cheaper to run than an oven now is an added bonus.
My parents got one from Costco after seeing mine. Was only £60 or so, which is insanely cheap. Just found it - £58:
We have a Breville countertop convection oven that also has air fryer capability. Based on our usage, I’m happy that it has the air fryer function, but I’m also happy that it’s not a single function appliance.
It costs more than the Cosori Dual Blaze that you mentioned, but it also does a lot more, and has a smaller footprint than a couple of countertop appliances, and that’s something we’re always looking for.
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I was really close to buying an air fryer but I have a Panasonic microwave convection oven combo. Doesn’t the fan assisted convection oven bit do the same as an air fryer? If so, I don’t see the point of adding yet another appliance…or am I missing something?
Pompeyexile I have the same oven by Panasonic, don’t feel an air fryer would benefit me. Although after Xmas they might be giving them away.
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DavecUK They are not the same! I have a Cosori Dual Blaze. It has an enormous basket and is unique as it has heating elements and fans both top and bottom. This means your food cooks much faster at at 1700 watts efficiently. An example, I cooked a 2.5 kg chicken absolutely perfectly in 60 minutes exactly. Can yours do that? The normal cooking time is 30 mins per 500 gms plus 30 over
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dfk41 I cooked a 2.5 kg chicken absolutely perfectly in 60 minutes exactly. Can yours do that?
Yes, because I can have as many combination functions as I want one of them can cook a larger chicken than that in 60m. Jacket potatoes are very fast too. I en and Microwave at once. Plus I have turbo bake, much like an air fryer.
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DavecUK Sorry, did you mention the cost of purchase, I am not sure! 
dfk41 well it’s about £70 to £100 less than I would spend if I bought an air fryer, because I’ve already got it.
Pompeyexile I was really close to buying an air fryer but I have a Panasonic microwave convection oven combo. Doesn’t the fan assisted convection oven bit do the same as an air fryer?
I don’t think that a convection oven does exactly the same thing as an air fryer, although they are very similar in how they work. We have a Breville combination toaster oven/convection oven/air fryer. Judging from how it works in different modes, I see three ways that the air fryer mode is different from the convection oven mode.
- The air fryer mode uses the top and bottom heating elements, and the convection oven only uses the bottom one. This is true even if the air fryer is at the same temperature setting as the convection oven mode.
- The fan runs at a higher speed in air fryer mode.
- You need the wire basket for good air frying results, so if a combination oven doesn’t come with a wire basket, it’s probably not meant to be used as an air fryer.
These three differences make sense to me. A convection oven uses the fan to circulate air around a little bit to help eliminate hot spots in the oven, leading to better baking. Once you’re at your target temperature, you don’t need much extra heat to maintain that environment for baking.
The air fryer mode doesn’t just bring the heat up to the target temperature. To get that frying effect, you also need to carry away moisture from the surface of whatever you’re air frying. I think this is why you need the wire basket and to heat from top and bottom, so that all sides of the food are exposed. This is also why the fan is cranked up, to help carry moisture away from the surface of the food.
Looking at the Panasonic combination microwave oven combos, I see one model where it says it has an air fryer function, so if your unit had that mode, I’m sure Panasonic would have let everyone know about it.
The £100 or so that an air fryer costs would allow you to run a standard 2 kw convection oven for about 150 hours even at current domestic prices - maybe even more depending on the efficiency of the oven. You need to cook a lot of chickens before you get pay back from an air fryer purchase. :-) Plus you can put your potatoes etc in the oven with the chicken to roast at the same time!
Gagaryn A 2.5 kg chicken in a normal oven would take circa 3 hours @ 2kw per hour. In my air fryer, it takes 60 minutes @ 1700 watts. Roast potatoes take 25 minutes which is jus a nice amount of time to let the chicken rest, before carving and doing the rest! My fixed tariff is approximately 20p per KwH so that is 120p versus 34p on the chicken alone. Not enough to go on holiday with I grant you, but when added to the other small savings we make in trying to achieve energy efficiency it certainly helps
wilburpan it’s called turbo bake on mine, and it can be combined with the microwave.
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I was in Tesco last night and did scope out their Tesco Go Cook specially made super high quality finest air fryer for £70.
I thought, I’ll keep an eye out for this to be £35 after Xmas….once the fad ends!