Do I need an air fryer?

[DelphiniumBlue]

I keep on seeing them mentioned on threads, and am being targeted by advertisers, but would it improve my life if I had one?
My kitchen is small, so it would need to be worth the space it would take up. I have the usual oven, grill and microwave, and cook from scratch most of the time. There are always 2 but often 4 or 5 adults for evening meals.
Any thoughts?

We bought one to see what the fuss was about. There are two of us, and I or DH cooks dinner every night.

we are pretty ‘meh’ about it. We have ( and have had for thirty years) a combi microwave which is a small oven, cooks as a fan oven or on combination with microwave. I haven’t used the big oven ( already installed) in the four years we have lived here. I didn’t have a trad oven in France, just a combi….so we are not making any savings on electricity with the air fryer. It is slower to heat up and cook than the combi, even on plain convection.

It hasn’t been out in the last three weeks. It does decent string chips, but the deep fryer does better onion rings and squid. It’s less messy than the fryer, though.

You don't need one but they are awfully useful, many things taste better, it's the cheapest way to cook and it's fast.

We've just been gifted one. I had refused to get it as I also thought it'd be one those things that collects dust but actually it's really useful and super quick and that's that main benefit for us. I think for daily things, roast potatoes, fish etc it's great. We have the ninja double drawer one. It's not massive but fine for the 3 of us.

I like ours, it's a Tower one that's just a small oven rather than having drawers etc. I bought it just before we started a (year long) kitchen renovation, to use in the temporary kitchen. It has done us proud but there are only two of us; I think it would be difficult to produce a meal for 5 in it.

It does really good chips in the rotisserie (made from scratch, not oven chips) and we've done small roasts in it, fish pie, moussaka. Also made parsnip crisps with the dehydrator function.

Now that we almost have a functioning oven again I think it will still get used for quite a lot of things, but probably not a roast.

My oven broke years ago and I have used a shelf air fryer in its place instead. Love mine.

I've been thinking about getting one for a while but only for things like when DS cooks chips or a pie just for him. I wouldn't cook a whole meal for 3 people in it. I'd use my ordinary oven for that.
I like the idea of the dehydrate function too!

We have a massive one (Ninja Flexi 10.4l) and it's great

Since I got my ninja foodi 2 years ago the oven only gets used for pizzas and Christmas dinner. DD just bought an identical one for her uni house too.

Saves time, saves energy, saves money - what’s not to love?

We resisted for ages, but my husband went to stay with a friend who had one, and came back a total convert.

There are six of us, and I use it daily. It has massively reduced the amount of times I turn on the big oven. Obviously, I'm not going to cook a roast in it for six people, but for cooking the meatballs to go with pasta, or for reheating jacket potatoes, for cooking sausages, or cooking a cottage pie, it is perfect.

I have the tower 17076 mini-oven-style air fryer.

air fryer

I don’t have one and don’t think it does anything that my normal oven doesn’t so I’m going to say you definitely don’t need it.

We wouldn't be without one now. Started years ago with a paddle one, then had the ninja pressure cooker style one but got the ninja dual drawer one about 6 months ago and it's used almost daily (2 adults) The big oven only ever goes on for pizza now. It'll do 2 sides for Christmas dinner too and save space in the main oven which will be a bonus.

I would say yes...... I was sceptical to start but use it every day now. Only use the oven for home made pizza or baking. I've even done a roast dinner in it!!!!!

Yes. You need it. I got one in the Black Friday sale after years of sitting on the fence and thinking what is the point. It is basically a mini shelf oven that bakes, toasts and airfries. It has halved my cooking time. No need to faff around with preheating. It heats up and cooks so quickly that initially I was burning food a lot. After trial and error, now I have figured out the cooking time for most of the food we eat. Just today I baked frozen croissants in 10 mins flat, with no preheating. Just go and buy one.

I love mine, its quick, clean and uses less electricity. Its a large 2 drawer version.

We are a family of 5 and it seems OK for us. I even baked bread in it the other day.

I've seen that Salter have started offering a combined microwave / air fryer. I need to replace my microwave and am v tempted to add in the air fryer option. Has anyone tried this: https://www.robertdyas.co.uk/salter-26l-air-fryer-microwave-oven?cq_src=google_ads&cq_cmp=17724362627&cq_term=&cq_plac=&cq_net=x&cq_plt=gp&gad_source=1&gclid=Cj0KCQiAsburBhCIARIsAExmsu6RH_lStdEu2crW5_oO6sLDzfnb65dr4DI61w8vUZ0_ozacILhu2KAaAriIEALw_wcB?

Love mine! I think the name is confusing because it does so much more than ‘air fry!’.

I’ve got the big 2 drawer ninja and it does the perfect xl roast chicken in an hour! I’ve made roast pots, frittata, stuffing and bacon and sausages are great (no more messy grills!

I read somewhere that the rule of thumb was 20% less cooking time & 20% lower temperature than for a normal oven, & that seems to work.

We have two. (Paddle & drawer) for me it's great as I have a teen and pre teen. They can easily do themselves a quick snack when they get home from school. Better than putting oven on for something small and I like it turns itself off.

If I was always cooking for 4-5 no.

Ours get used constantly to avoid heating up the oven for a small amount of food. It's only 2 of us and a toddler. My air fryer is a smaller one and takes up a lot of space. It's nice because my teenager can make lots of things safely on her own with it. I don't think we would use it if I was still cooking from scratch like I used to, or if we had more people at home. I don't think it would suit you at all, and I usually rave about them!

I have the combo air fryer and pressure cooker and I love it. Even DH is a convert and he was dead set against it.

I have one and shouldn't have bothered with it IMO.

Yes. I was sceptical so started with an Asda own brand one. Loved it. It broke. So I moved onto the ninja one with a grill, it’s the best thing ever for chicken, steak, veg, everything and fits loads in. I use it every day. Healthy quick meals, plus amazing chips 😃

No
We bought one last year, completely fell for the hype
We've just gifted it to DH's stepdad as it was in the way

I bought one a few weeks ago and it's been life changing! I tell everyone I meet about it, I love it so much, ha ha.

We're a vegan family and I use it for tofu, roast potatoes, nut roast, chips, roasted veg and loads of other stuff. I wouldn't be without it now. I have one with 2 compartments and they go straight in the dishwasher, so no need to hand clean it.

PS: Loving the idea of storing it in the (now redundant) oven.

Thank you for the tip @EmpressaurusOfCats.