Which air fryer?

[Timothy Bucktu]

Daughter wants an Air Fryer for Christmas. She's a student, so only cooking for herself, and maybe her other two flat mates.
Don't argue...it's what she wants (I do think they're a bit fad'ish personally, I mean it's just a small fan oven...but it's what she wants and that's that...daughters eh!)

I'm quite drawn to the Cosori 5L jobbie...but then you read the reviews and it seems they have issues. Then I looked at the Ninja, but then you read the reviews and it seems they have issues...repeat for literally every air fryer I looked at!
So...they can't all be unreliable pieces of junk?
So now I'm going to ignore the reviews and trust you guys...Any recommendations?

[tomsugden]

I bought one of these recently and can't fault it:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Instant-Vortex-Plus-Clear...

[Dave.]

When she said she wanted an air fryer, what she probably meant to say was "I want a Ninja"...

Ask her what she actually wants before you waste your money and disappoint her in one go...

[Ham_and_Jam]

Timothy Bucktu said:

I do think they're a bit fad'ish personally, I mean it's just a small fan oven...

They are very useful bits of kit, and definitely have their place in a modern kitchen.

Don’t dismiss them until you try one. Whilst technically they are small fan ovens, the end result’s are far superior for certain foods.

[mikeiow]

Dave. said:

When she said she wanted an air fryer, what she probably meant to say was "I want a Ninja"...

Ask her what she actually wants before you waste your money and disappoint her in one go...

She might well mean that!

We have https://www.costco.co.uk/Appliances/Small-Kitchen-... - works a treat, a decent price....

[Kermit power]

Ham_and_Jam said:

Timothy Bucktu said:

I do think they're a bit fad'ish personally, I mean it's just a small fan oven...

They are very useful bits of kit, and definitely have their place in a modern kitchen.

Don’t dismiss them until you try one. Whilst technically they are small fan ovens, the end result’s are far superior for certain foods.

They're more than just small fan ovens. They're combo fan ovens and pressure cookers.

[Evanivitch]

What's she likely to cook? We bought a dual draw Vortex because we often cook chips and Quorn products as a convenience meal.

Bought the vortex because it was available. Bought an air fryer because it's faster, uses less energy and out of reach of a toddler.

[V8covin]

Costco Sur la table if they have any stock.
There's a good thread running
https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Mr Pointy]

You're likely to be very limited in what you can actually buy before Christmas, especially if it's a Ninja she wants. You might want to check if she wants just an air fryer or one of the multi-cookers with pressure cooker etc:
https://ninjakitchen.co.uk/ninja-catalog/ninja-mul...

[Funk]

I have this Ninja and it's working great: https://smile.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B07PBBW4XF/r...

My only gripe is the rubber feet on the bottom plate can collect gunk and are a bit fiddly to clean but that's it really.

[matchmaker]

You can get a basic Tower air fryer in Argos for £30. We got one and it is excellent for making chips, etc. Only a fryer, though.

https://www.argos.co.uk/search/tower-air-fryer/?&a...

[gotoPzero]

Ninja. 6L one. Enough capacity to air fry for 2 people.

Also pressure cooks batch soups and stews like no tomorrow, enough for 6+ people.

I use mine at least twice a week.

[Evanivitch]

gotoPzero said:

Ninja. 6L one. Enough capacity to air fry for 2 people.

Also pressure cooks batch soups and stews like no tomorrow, enough for 6+ people.

I use mine at least twice a week.

Air fry a portion of chips each?

[Riley Blue]

We bought a Ninja AF300 a short while back and haven't used the oven since. The Ninja is far quicker, uses less electricity and is a doodle to use; we can't fault it at all.

Long air fryer thread here: https://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&...

[Mr Pointy]

gotoPzero said:

Ninja. 6L one. Enough capacity to air fry for 2 people.

Also pressure cooks batch soups and stews like no tomorrow, enough for 6+ people.

I use mine at least twice a week.

That's not an air fryer though. There's confusion over what everyone is talking about.

[Timothy Bucktu]

Thank for the tips...one of the links took me to this. It looks perfect?
https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/daewoo-sda1551ge-1800...

[here_we_go]

We have one of these: https://ninjakitchen.co.uk/product/ninja-foodi-8-i...

Different footprint to most air fryers but has the bonus of being able to cook pizzas, toast stuff etc. Use it quite a lot

[craig1912]

Kermit power said:

They're more than just small fan ovens. They're combo fan ovens and pressure cookers.

They aren’t though. An air fryer is an air fryer. The fact that some manufacturers put a load of other features on them is fine but just adds to the cost.

We have the Costco one linked above and also bought one for our son at Uni. Brilliant things for the money and miles more efficient than turning on a big oven.

[Dogwatch]

craig1912 said:

They aren’t though. An air fryer is an air fryer. The fact that some manufacturers put a load of other features on them is fine but just adds to the cost.
.

the basic ones are just forced air cookers. Pressure cooking is an add-on.
I believe they are cousins of the Merrychef units seen lurking at the back of snack counters.