Over the past decade, the air fryer has become a staple in the American kitchen. Almost 60 percent of households in the United States there is already an air fryer. There are countless cookbooks, accessories, even actual food products designed to make the air frying experience better and easier. Unfortunately, there is very little innovation when it comes to the air fryer itself, especially from a design perspective.
This became very clear to me a few months ago. About halfway through cooking my salmon, I heard the fan on my cheap Dash air fryer go full blast. When I opened the machine, the fish was not done, and it was clear that the heating element of the air fryer was struggling. Unable to find any documentation of a warranty or even remember where I bought it, I threw the busted air fryer in the trash and pulled up the Amazon app on my phone to find a new one.
I don't like what I see. The first results on Amazon returned many almost identical air fryers in two categories: pod-shaped machines in black, red, or gray plastic, or large toaster-oven-shaped types available in stainless steel. There are also many air fryer brands – Ninja, Instant, Cosori, Dash, Nuwave, Breville, Phillips, Toshiba, and Hamilton Beach among them – all with different reviews of their performance. And since this is an appliance that will sit on the counter all the time, I wanted to find something that fits the dimensions and the beauty of my small apartment kitchen. Because of this, the hunt continues.
My scrolling stopped, however, when I found the Fritterslike no other air fryer I've ever seen. Instead of a metal basket, Fritaire's egg-shaped air fryer uses a glass bowl to hold food, which the brand claims is easier to clean and helps users avoid chemicals found in nonstick coatings. most air fryers. It's also “self-cleaning,” meaning users can pour soapy water directly into the bowl and let the machine's fan spin the air before spraying the water and wiping it clean. Aesthetically, it has a little Atomic Era, The Jetsons-esque vibe, and available in a variety of colors, from classic black to newer offerings like mauve and lavender.
Fritaire founder Andreas Hansen first learned about air fryer cooking in 2020, when the COVID pandemic sent appliance sales soaring. Always a tinkerer, Hansen, who has extensive experience in product development, ordered several air fryer models from major brands such as Ninja to test them at home. He likes their cooking, but his wife hates the way they all look. “He didn't like anyone in it, and it wasn't because of the performance,” he said. “He said they were all the same. They are black, gray, boring, ugly. That just sparked the need for me to see what else people don't like about air fryers.
Hansen began reading the many negative reviews of air fryers on platforms like Amazon, and noticed that many reviewers agreed with his wife. He also noted some common complaints about the way air fryers are designed – people who buy pod-shaped air fryers don't like that they can't see how their food is cooking inside and that it difficult to clean, for example – and so he planned an air fryer that avoids all these criticisms.
It was when Hansen began looking for manufacturers for his design – which prioritized attractiveness and functionality alike – that things became difficult. Quickly, he found out why many air fryers, even though they are sold under different brands, look very similar. Many air fryers are made in China, and a manufacturer can manufacture air fryers and other small appliances, or parts for appliances, for many brands. “Even the big brands are buying from them,” Hansen said.
Another problem Hansen quickly ran into was that his plan to offer more colors was complicated by the way air fryers work. Since they are basically countertop ovens, manufacturers have to contend with the hot air that inevitably comes into contact with the plastic pieces of the air fryer. “There's a reason air fryers are generally not colorful, and that has to do with heat loss,” he said. “Basically, plastic ages over time. White plastic turns green, green turns yellow, etc. Black also discolors over time, but it's less noticeable than lighter colors. .Hansen worked for nearly eight months to find a plastic that would not be affected by heat discoloration, and he still had to settle on making the machine's handle in black plastic.
Our Place, the brand known for its beautiful cookware like the popular Always Pan, also took a different approach to designing its own air fryer. the Wonder Oven priced at $195, it's more expensive than a typical pod-shaped air fryer that usually sells for $100, and looks like a small toaster oven. It is also available in many chic colors – warm, orangey Spice and cool Blue Salt, among them – and its appearance has gained popularity in the oven on platforms such as Instagram and TikTok. Many creators call it the “adult Easy-Bake oven,” referring to the popular '80s cooking toy, and that description isn't far off.
When she started thinking about what her brand's air fryer would look like, Our Place CEO Shiza Shahid immediately shied away from the pod-shaped design. “The typical air fryer design is very large and hyper-specific,” he said. “(This design) is more useful. It allows us to make the Wonder Oven not just an air fryer, but also an oven that you can cook in. It's also a toaster. You can do a lot more with it, it's a extremely versatile and approachable design. And, of course, the cherry on top of the cake is that it looks great.”
Because Shahid's company uses an in-house design team, it allows Our Place to create a design that is truly unique. “The way most manufacturers design kitchen appliances is that they buy them from factories that have already done the work. It's rare for a company to have its own in-house product design team,” says Shahid. “It's not just in air fryers, it's across the board. Every frying pan looks the same, every toaster looks the same. This is a category that has lacked innovation for a long time, both in form and in materials.
There may be a reason for the lack of innovation beyond manufacturing efficiency. Perhaps, the pod-shaped air fryer is the best design, and that's why many brands go with it. I decided to test that theory by requesting three different air fryers from their manufacturers and evaluating them on their performance: the Our Place Wonder Oven, the Fritaire, and a basic Toshiba pod-shaped model. My plan is to air fry chicken nuggets, bake a cookie or two, and roast half a bag of frozen broccoli in each appliance. I believe – and fear – that the large pod machine will do the best cooking.
The results, however, are surprisingly the same – except when it comes to cooking. All three air fryers produced crisp nuggets and beautifully charred broccoli florets, but neither the Toshiba nor the Fritaire models came with a baking sheet that would have fit the cookies, so I couldn't replicate that test. The Wonder Oven bakes an okay cookie, but it can't replace my larger oven in that regard.
I also bought a combination air fryer and toaster oven from Drew Barrymore's popular housewares line Beautiful, sold at Walmart. As its name suggests, Beautiful's products are beautiful to look at, available in many colors, and made with luxe finishes such as painted gold handles. Priced at about $100, this oven looks great on my counter, but it cooks unevenly, always burning the toast in the back left corner, and the outside of the machine feels dangerously hot even after a quick cooking. It also easily falls victim to the heat discoloration that Hansen mentioned. In just a few weeks, its sage exterior turned a dull brown around the edges of the door. I contacted Beautiful for more insight into why I'm having these issues, but haven't heard back.
Every air fryer I've tried has its own faucets. The Fritaire model is annoying to use because I have to remove the entire top half of the egg-shaped machine – which includes the heating element – every time I want to check my food. Its plastic also feels flimsy, and the included rotisserie attachment is difficult and frustrating to use. The Toshiba cooks pretty much the same, but it's a pain to clean, and the nonstick coating inside the basket creates an unattractive film of carbonized grease. It's also the ugliest of the three, a big hunk of black plastic. Our Place's Wonder Oven may be the most attractive and easiest to use of the three, but it still suffers from uneven cooking and a finicky timer knob.
In the end, I still have all three of these air fryers, but the Wonder Oven is the only one that has earned a permanent spot on my counter. Call me shallow, but I'd rather worry about unevenly browned chicken nuggets than fill my counter with an ugly black appliance that I have to look at every day. For the most part, the Wonder Oven roasts my vegetables and cooks my salmon well. Every now and then, I get annoyed at how often I have to stir the contents or at the need to turn the small pan around just to get my potatoes cooked evenly. But I think these are the kinds of compromises we have to make if we really can't live without an air fryer.