Appliance Spotlight

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Air fryers: quarts, watts, and basket or oven

An air fryer is a small convection oven with a fan close to the food. The specification sheet is a capacity, a wattage and a list of presets, and the capacity is the only one that decides whether it works for your household.

What the category is

Basket air fryers hold food in a pull-out drawer and are quick, compact and easy to clean; dual-basket models cook two things at once. Oven-style air fryers are countertop ovens with a fan and racks, hold more, and do toast and bake as well — they are also on the toaster oven hub. Air-fryer lids for pressure cookers convert a multi-cooker.

How to read the spec sheet

Capacity in quarts is the basket’s volume, and food cooks evenly only in a single layer: 2 to 3 quarts is one person, 4 to 5 is a couple, 6 and up is a family, and a dual basket splits the figure between two drawers. A review turns the quart figure into servings.

Wattage: 1,500 to 1,800 watts on a standard socket; less than 1,200 means a slower preheat and less browning.

Temperature range: most run 170 to 400 °F; a dehydrate setting drops to 90, a broil setting reaches 450. The range says what the machine can do beyond fries.

Presets are a marketing count; the useful lines are a preheat, a shake reminder and a keep-warm.

Basket and crisper materials and whether they are dishwasher safe; the coating is the part that wears.

Footprint and cord: a 6-quart basket fryer takes a square foot of counter and needs clearance behind it for its exhaust.

Who it suits

Anyone reheating and crisping for one to four people, and anyone who wants oven results without heating the oven. A dual basket for a household that cooks a main and a side at once.

Who should skip it

A household that bakes, toasts and roasts whole chickens: an air-fryer toaster oven does all of it in one box. Anyone with a foot of counter to spare and no more.

Where to start

Six of the 32 air fryers appliances reviewed on this site, one per model, across manufacturers. Every review is written from the manufacturer’s published specifications — how, and what that leaves out.

All 32 air fryers appliance reviews

Newest first. Consumables, accessories and parts that were once filed here are excluded.