Should I buy an air fryer?

[Muchtoomuchtodo]

Family of 4 with 2 insatiable teenage boys

Is there one big enough to cook for 4 in or am I better off sticking with the oven?

what are the pros / cons?

is it likely to end up taking up space in a cupboard with the rice cooker and steamer?!

A lot of it depends on your eating routines and what you like to eat. The question to ask yourself is how much do you use your oven. If you use it a lot and the shelves are always full then you might find the additional space for the airfryer is not worth it.

My oven nor my grill has not been used since I bought mine 3 years ago There are only two of us and we have a pressure cooker for stews and casseroles. We use the Airfryer every day, and have recently increased the size and now have 3. The littlest one being confined to the garage.

if your kids like to cook for themselves it is great. It’s cheap to run and easy to clean.

My son has two teens and upgraded to the largest model. He rarely uses the oven but often uses both air fryers.

I definitely don’t have space for more than one! If that’s needed I’m definitely better off using the oven

My son only uses 2 when they are entertaining. He made extra storage by storing pans in the now redundant oven and grill. I think overall having one oven to do everything is better.

I like the fact that my teens can use it without setting house on fire

I just succumbed to an upgrade for mine,
we do use it a lot - generally for anything I’d use the oven for. My teens even cut pizza up (with scissors) so it fits and do it there
it basically halves the oven cooking time.

theres a good Black Friday deal on the double ninja one which seems to be the best make around. The AF400 with two drawers that they say is good for a family. Can get it with side by side drawers or vertical. Think it’s £150 at the moment which is a good reduction.

I find mine especially handy when we’re eating at different times, and for roasts. Am planning to use it to help with Xmas dinner (prob for pigs in blankets, stuffing balls, Yorkshires etc)

We use ours all the time now instead of the oven. So in terms of energy costs it's brilliant.

We bought ours last week from Lakeland. Half price at £75. Cooked topside beautifully and crispy aromatic duck to perfection.

I’ve just upgraded mine, my old one is 3 years old and used all the time, from roast chicken, roast potatoes, jackets to pizza sausages burgers, I’ve even baked cakes and it’s wonderful for pastry

my advice is don’t buy draws get one with shelves. My first was a draw which I changed fir a shelve one when my son got his, they are so much more versatile.

amazon have some good ones on sale at the moment.

i had a Breville 10lt which can take a 2kg chicken I’ve just ordered a tower 30lt, I’m very excited

In short, yes.
They are so handy. Your sons could pop in a couple of chicken breasts with no faff and 20mins later they've made themselves half a decent meal. If they're anything like the teenage boys I know who live off chicken!

I just bought a ninja one in a Black Friday deal. Mainly because my daughter gets home from after school club ravenous and this is a quicker school night dinner solution. Weekends I will probably still use the oven.

I have older kids too. I have a duel ninja. It's been amazing. We tend to eat at different times a lot due to people working or having other commitments so I'd hate to think the cost of heating the oven up several times a day. The ninja one is now available as a stack so would take up less room than the one I got. But it's lowered my bills and cooks freezer food that's actually pleasant, and faster.

It's Ok. Dh finds it handy to do a few fish fingers. It does good chips. We cook bacon and mushrooms for breakfast. I think I'd struggle to do a meal for four in it....

As @Mapleunicorn says I do use the oven for things like Sunday roasts as the volume of food makes the air fryer less economical. But even a frozen pizza in 7 minutes without the need to heat an oven has been a revelation for those that have different schedules

I got my airfryer for £15 from a charity shop. I use it more than my oven because I live alone. I have even cooked soda bread in it.

I have a dual drawer ( one bigger than the other ) Tefal

Brilliant for croissants , DS chicken cooks much quicker
I do my roast potatoes as normal them before they're fully done , put in the big drawer and free up the oven for a couple of trays of Yorkshire Puddings

I bought mine last year Black Friday

Hmmm. I’m tempted. DH isn’t so keen but can’t really explain why!

Does a decent sized chicken fit in one with shelves?

No. I have one. It takes up a huge amount of space gathering dust and does a worse job than the oven.

Maybe your DH is thinking "Why would someone want to fry Air "?

I'm thinking about this too. Looking at the double stacks but not sure I have enough counter space to sacrifice for the bigger one which sticks out 47 cm vs 42 for the smaller one 🤔

I would go for the largest you can fit or the one with the most capacity. Not always the same as drawers have smaller capacity even tho they might be larger.

Everyone I know has soon upgraded to the larger models because it takes them by surprise how much they use it.

We were so lucky and were given a 9in 1 that pressure cooks, slow cooks, bakes, and air fries. It's brilliant I am disabled and we were relying on DH for very basic rations now I have my mojo back. We do everything from pavlova to risotto in it and teen dd1 bakes amazing cakes and brookies in it. I also do roast chicken etc in it. We later inherited a dual drawer and use it for mostly roasties or chicken breasts etc but I made DH BBQ ribs his pig farmer friend gave him last night and he and dd2 said they were much better than the oven. I am eying a flexdrawer if we ever get some money.

There are LOADS of identical threads to this one and the consensus generally is the majority say

I never switch on my oven now

my kids feed themselves

It’s more important than my first born

i do everything in mine including filing my tax return

Air fryers are here to stay and come the revolution they shall rise and take over the world

I think the hype has died down now and a lot of people are not as scared to turn their actual ovens on anymore. I have one, I didn’t want to admit it, but it is mildly useful for some things. Apparently some also get very offended if you dare suggest that the majority of air fryers are used for nuggets, chips and fish fingers, but yeah, they totally are, and that’s fine. Get one OP, they are actually quite a useful edition to the kitchen, they are very worshipped, I believe that one day no one will have kitchens, just an air fryer in an empty room on a pedestal, going off the praise I read on here about them.

I just wish I’d thought of turning what were little convection ovens that bedsit dwellers would use into one of the most incredible bits of marketing in history, amazing, all you have to do is lie and rebrand!

I've just swapped my shelved one for a drawer one, I find the shelved one more limited. Can only cook at the same temperature, not many dishes will fit so can't do one pot dishes, and it's a bastard to clean. Only thing I think I'll miss is the rotisserie part

100% yes you should