Philips 4000 Series NA462/79 Stacked Dual Basket Air Fryer review: “incredibly versatile and convenient to use”

RRP on writing: £270 | Check price at Amazon, Currys, John Lewis or Philips directly

Our verdict

Air fryers have reached that point where half of us are evangelical about them and the other half are wondering where on earth we’re meant to store yet another hefty black box with a plug. The Philips 4000 Series NA462/79 Stacked Dual Basket Air Fryer is firmly in the useful camp, but at least it makes a decent attempt at solving the storage problem.

It’s a 10-litre dual-basket air fryer with two 5-litre drawers stacked vertically rather than sitting side by side. In normal family-kitchen terms, that means you can cook two parts of dinner at once without giving up quite as much worktop width as you would with a traditional dual-drawer model.

It’s still big. Let’s not pretend otherwise. But it’s a more sensible shape for many kitchens, especially if your worktops already have a toaster, kettle, coffee machine and an ever-changing pile of school letters on them.

Our tester, Mumsnet editor Laura, used the Philips 4000 Series for a month in a family-of-three household. She describes herself as a “confident cook” and cooks from scratch “most days”, so this wasn’t a case of chucking in the odd beige tea and hoping for the best. Her household cooks “balanced meals wherever possible”, including “rice and noodle dishes, but also pasta, curries, wraps, fish, chicken (with veg, potatoes etc).”

This stacked air fryer by Philips offers families 10L of cooking space

The Philips quickly became part of that routine. Laura said: “We use an air fryer whenever we can, as it's often much quicker and more energy-efficient than using the oven.” She tested it with chicken thighs, drumsticks, fries, wedges, jacket potatoes, sausages, halloumi, fish fingers and even shakshuka. Yes, shakshuka.

Overall, she rated the evenness, crispiness and doneness of food as “good”, and gave the quality of meals cooked in it four out of five. The biggest wins were speed and consistency. As Laura put it: “Yes, the Philips cooks food faster and more consistently than our oven. While we can cook some foods just as quickly using the grill, we don't achieve the same level of consistency as we do with the air fryer. Whenever possible, the air fryer is our preferred cooking method.”

How we tested the Philips 4000 Series Stacked Dual Basket Air Fryer

The Philips 4000 Series NA462/79 was tested for a month by Laura Westerman in a family home with two adults and one four-year-old. The household used it between one and three times a week alongside their usual appliances: a conventional oven, microwave and hob.

Laura tested everyday family foods including chicken, fries, wedges, jacket potatoes, sausages, halloumi and fish. She also used it to reheat foods where a crisp finish matters, including burritos, and tried a more ambitious shakshuka using a silicone basket insert she already owned.

Her feedback covered cooking performance, ease of use, family appeal, build quality, cleaning, worktop footprint, value for money and whether she’d recommend it to other households.

Philips stacked air fryer: what’s in the box?

The box includes the Philips 4000 Series NA462/79 Stacked Dual Basket Air Fryer and non-stick StarPlates. The StarPlate inserts sit inside the baskets and help hot air circulate around the food. They are removable, although Laura found this wasn’t instantly obvious when first unboxing the air fryer.

She said: “The only thing that slightly stumped us were the StarPlate inserts. These were already in place straight out of the box, so it wasn't immediately obvious that they could be removed. Once we'd checked the instructions, it made sense.”

The design is very modern and complements Laura's kitchen

Is the Philips 4000 stacked air fryer easy to set up?

Set-up was refreshingly simple. Laura said: “There is no real set up - you simply plug and go. Before using the air fryer for the first time, we washed the baskets and removable accessories in warm, soapy water, as recommended. This was quick and straightforward, and the air fryer was ready to use within a few minutes.” 

Design and capacity: two 5-litre baskets in a stacked layout 

The main point of difference is the shape. Instead of placing two baskets side by side, Philips has stacked them one above the other. You still get two independent cooking zones, but with a narrower footprint. The dimensions are 39.9 x 23.3 x 46.9cm, so it’s tall and deep rather than wide.

For Laura, this was an upgrade from her previous single-basket model. She said: “The dual-basket design was one of our favourite features. Having the extra capacity (5 litres in each basket) meant we could cook complete meals at once, rather than having to cook items in batches.”

That matters for family cooking. A single-drawer air fryer can be brilliant until you’re trying to cook chicken and chips, or sausages and veg, and realise one half of dinner will be lukewarm by the time the other half is done. The Philips avoids a lot of that by letting each drawer run independently.

The Sync function was especially useful. Laura said it helped with “ensuring foods with different cooking times finished at the same time and taking the guesswork out of meal prep.” Anyone who has tried to time fish fingers, wedges and peas while a child asks for a snack 11 minutes before dinner will understand the appeal.

The viewing windows were another big plus. Laura said: “We also loved the viewing windows in each drawer, which made it easy to check on food without opening the baskets and interrupting the cooking process.” That gives this model an advantage over the Ninja Double Stack XL, which doesn’t have basket windows.

The digital display is clear and easy to read thanks to being on an angle

How well does it cook chips, chicken and family meals?

The Philips 4000 Series uses Vertical RapidAir Technology, which circulates hot air from above. It has six preset functions, 12 cooking methods and a Time to Shake alert that reminds you to shake food for more even cooking.

Laura found it worked particularly well for the things most people buy an air fryer for. “The fryer excelled at cooking fries and chicken. Both came out with a lovely finish - crispy on the outside, cooked through evenly, and ready much more quickly than in the oven. These quickly became some of our favourite foods to cook in it.”

She also had good results with wedges, sausages, halloumi and fish, and said her family enjoyed the results: “Yes, absolutely.”

The shake reminder was useful too. Laura said: “Foods like fries and wedges also benefit from being shaken partway through cooking to ensure they crisp up evenly. We like that the air fryer beeps halfway through cooking (it’s called a ‘Time to Shake’ alert) to remind you to shake/check the food. An easy thing to forget!”

There were a few niggles. Fish fingers stuck to the basket, so Laura found it helped to lightly grease the basket or use a baking sheet. She also noted that “using a baking sheet can reduce airflow around the food, which slightly affects the air fryer's performance and crispness.”

The StarPlate also occasionally trapped thinner fries. Laura said: “One minor issue we encountered was with fries occasionally getting stuck in the holes of the StarPlate insert. However, the insert can be removed easily for cleaning, so this wasn't a major inconvenience.”

Laura enjoyed being able to see her food while it was cooking

Sync function, presets and viewing windows

Laura found the controls mostly intuitive, rating them four out of five and saying she “rarely needed the manual, mostly intuitive.” That’s always a relief with small appliances. Nobody wants to be scrolling through a PDF while dinner's cooking.

She said: “The controls are clearly laid out, and it didn't take long to become comfortable using the different cooking modes and basket settings.” The presets were useful as a starting point, though they weren’t perfect for every food.

Build quality was another strength. Laura rated it five out of five for solidity and said: “No, the air fryer is really well built and still looks almost brand-new after a month of regular use (we typically use it between one and three times a week). The baskets, controls and exterior have all held up well, with no noticeable wear, scratches or deterioration.”

Are the baskets of the Philips 4000 stacked air fryer dishwasher-safe? 

Cleaning was straightforward. The removable parts are dishwasher-safe, and Laura gave cleaning five out of five. She said: “I love that you can put the drawer and StarPlate straight in the dishwasher and they both clean really well each time.”

There is one small kitchen irritation: finger marks. Laura said: “I found the main unit attracted finger marks, which you can see quite clearly in a certain light, so I found myself scrubbing these off quite regularly.”

Not a disaster, but if you have small children with sticky hands or a partner who can’t see smears unless they’re on a football scoreline, you’ve been warned.

The plates inside help to make sure hot air distributes evenly

How much worktop space does it take up? 

The footprint is the main caveat. Laura rated it three out of five for worktop footprint and said: “We definitely can’t keep the air fryer out on the worktop all the time as we have a modest kitchen with minimal worktop space.” She stores it in a cupboard and takes it out when needed.

If you have a similar kitchen setup, it might be worth looking at a portable air fryer like the Ninja Crispi instead.

Philips 4000 Series vs Ninja Double Stack XL: which stacked air fryer is better?

The obvious rival is the Ninja Double Stack XL, which helped popularise the stacked dual-drawer format. Both the Philips 4000 Series and Ninja Double Stack XL are designed to give families dual-zone cooking in a narrower shape than traditional side-by-side models.

Where Philips has the edge is visibility. The Philips drawers have viewing windows and lights, so you can check progress without opening the drawer and losing heat. Laura loved this, and TechRadar also singled it out as one of the Philips model’s advantages over the Ninja.

The Philips also has a smart black and copper finish, although that’s subjective. Laura liked it, saying: “There is only one colour option, Black & Copper, which is a bit limited, but to be honest I didn’t mind because it looked really smart in my kitchen.”

For Mumsnet readers, the decision will probably come down to how you cook. If you want windows, intuitive controls and a design that looks a bit more premium, the Philips is hard to ignore. If you want extra rack accessories and already like Ninja’s ecosystem, the Ninja is still a very strong competitor.

Final verdict: should you buy the Philips 4000 stacked air fryer?

The Philips 4000 Series NA462/79 Stacked Dual Basket Air Fryer is a well-designed air fryer that suits small families particularly well. It gives you dual-zone cooking, enough capacity for full meals and a stacked design that saves worktop width compared with side-by-side models.

It’s not cheap and it’s not small. Even with the neater vertical design, you’ll still need cupboard space or a decent bit of counter if you want to keep it in regular use. But it performed consistently well in Laura’s family kitchen, especially for fries, chicken, wedges and sausages, and the Sync function made mealtimes easier.

Laura’s verdict was clear: “Yes, I would recommend this air fryer, particularly for families. The combination of the stacked dual-basket design, generous 10-litre capacity and Sync function makes it incredibly versatile and convenient to use.”

She added: “It is certainly a premium-priced product, and there are more budget-friendly options available. However, Philips is a reputable brand, and the build quality, performance and thoughtful features make it feel like a premium appliance.”

I’d recommend it for households of three to four people who use an air fryer regularly and want to cook more than one part of dinner at once. If you only air fry the occasional handful of chips, it’s probably overkill. But if your oven is already losing the popularity contest, this could easily finish the job.

About the author

Rebecca Roberts is a senior content editor at Mumsnet, writing product reviews and home and lifestyle content for busy families. She is a full-time working mum of two, married and living in a countryside village with two dogs, so she has a healthy appreciation for anything that makes family life easier and a fairly low tolerance for kitchen gadgets that promise the earth and then lurk accusingly in a cupboard.

About Mumsnet reviews

Mumsnet reviews are written to help parents make confident buying decisions, with a focus on real-life use, value for money and the small details that only become obvious once a product has been properly tested at home.

Where possible, products are tested by parents and families in everyday settings, then assessed on performance, ease of use, cleaning, durability, design and whether they make life easier. We also consider Mumsnet user feedback, expert guidance and competitor products so readers get a clear, balanced view before spending their money.

All prices are correct at time of writing.

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