The best air fryers for every kitchen

Ninja is the name in air fryers. And in this case — as Ninja say themselves — one pot does the lot. Smaller (and cheaper) fryers are brilliant in their own right but tend to handle just one foodstuff at once. With the Ninja Foodi MAX Multi-Cooker, there’s space and shelving to cook the whole meal: Meat, fish, veggies, the works.

It had an extra-large capacity and two-tier reversible rack, all of which allows you to layer your mains and sides at once. It cooks exactly how you want, with 15 cooking functions that include pressure cook, fry, slow cook, grill, and multiple combi-steam modes. Plus, a cook and crisp basket for perfect results.

Pushed for time? No problem. A Smart Cook System keeps tabs on your food’s temperature, meaning the Ninja Foodi MAX is very hands off.

Big cooking energy means big cooking space, of course. It’s great for big households, which means it's also best suited to big kitchens considering it’s hefty design. Not to mention being best suited to chefs who have a bigger budget to spend.

The Salter Digital Air Fryer is all about speed. With plenty of power, it can heat up to 200 degrees and utilises a heat circulation method to cook quickly. 

It can cook a surprising variety of meals. Specialities include home-made chips, meat, spring rolls, stuffed vegetables, and quiche. And it's simple to use. There's a 30-minute timer with an automatic switch-off, plus digital touch sensitive controls and an LCD display.

Inside the Salter Digital Air Fryer is a removable 2 litre non-stick cooking basket. It's speedy in all aspects — just serve straight from the basket. But speed isn't the only bonus with this machine. It's also pretty cheap and it's super compact too, making it ideal for smaller kitchens and already-crammed countertops. It's basic but also a bargain.

Philips is no stranger to being number one in the electronics world. But Philips has been crushing the air fryer game, too. The Philips Air Fryer 5000 Series XL is a top pick for the brand's best overall model. It's also one of its biggest, with a whopping 6.2 litres capacity. The RRP is also on the larger side, but look closely and you'll see that it's often discounted on Amazon.

The big sell of this air fryer — other than the family-size capacity, of course — is Philips' Rapid Air technology. This swirls hot air around the fryer to ensure that your food is crispy on the outside and tender on the inside.

This air fryer isn't just fast, it's healthy too. It promises 90% less fat and has 14 cooking methods (including fry, roast, grill, sautéf, defrost, and stew), plus seven presets (such as frozen, meat, fish, and fries) and a keep warm function.

It pairs with the NutriU app, which gives you literally hundreds of suggestions and recipes. Just choose a recipe, send it to your air fryer, and check the progress from the comfort of your living room. Tasty stuff.

While you may recognise the Tefal for its heavy duty pots and pans, it's also a force to be reckoned with in the air fryer game. The Tefal ActiFry Genius+ has a major 'set it and forget it' vibe that other cookers can't offer.

The Actifry doesn't use a pull-out food drawer. Instead, the overhead lid opens to reveal a (dishwasher-safe) ring-shaped basket that holds 1.2kg of food. Once turned on, the Actifry's built-in stirring paddle will rotate your food under the hot air, so you don't have to keep stirring or flipping the food to make sure it cooks evenly. Which is always the hardest part.

The transparent lid allows you to keep an eye on your food. But if you don't have time to check in (or just can't be bothered), don't worry — a buzzer will go off once the timer is done. And you won't be waiting long. The Tefal ActiFry Genius+ cooks 30% faster than other ActiFry Genius models.

The Russell Hobbs Satisfry lives up to the pun. It's a very satisfying option from this menu of air fryers. The first thing to notice is that it's big — bigger than the average air fryer though not the biggest one on this list — but it keeps the price in the budget range. That's what you might expect from Russell Hobbs, a reliably affordable brand in the world of electronics.

It's actually quite a basic air fryer that would suit anyone who's new to the air frying game. It has seven preset cooking functions — chips, fish, prawn, chicken, steak, pork chop, and bake — though it's missing some of the more advanced cooking options you might get on a more advanced Ninja model.

If you want to master the art of air frying for yourself, it has a 60-minute timer and adjustable temperature settings. Overall, the Russell Hobbs Satisfry would best suit a large household that wants to give air frying a try for the first time.

Ninja really is the name in air frying, so it's no surprise we've picked two models for this roundup. The Ninja Foodi FlexDrawer Air Fryer is even bigger than the previous model, but that's not the defining feature. No, this one can be split into dual zones, allowing you to cook two different foods in two different ways at the same time (i.e. meat on one side, veggies on the other). That means you can easily cook full meals with this air fryer. And there's no waiting around. It may cook two foods in two ways, but it makes sure they finish at the same time.

Each zone is big enough to cook a large chicken, but you can remove the divider and use it as a 10.4 litre MegaZone, which cooks enough food for eight people.

It doesn't have the full compliment of functions found on all Ninja models, but it has most bases covered with options to air fry, max crisp, roast, bake, reheat, dehydrate, and prove. A pricey but premium choice.

If you live in a busy family household, the Chefman Digital Air Fryer is a sizeable choice. It's got stacks of great Amazon reviews, not to mention one of the biggest capacities on this list — more than enough space to feed a large family. There are three tiered shelves, giving you space to cook various foods at the same time (i.e. family meals), and a window to keep tabs on the progress.

There are plenty of options, with four cooking modes — air fry, bake, dehydrate, or roast — along with 17 pre-sets — including fries, chicken, and vegetables — plus an option to cook a whole chicken rotisserie style. Just remove the shelves and add the rotisserie spit accessory.

As far as we're concerned, the only letdown is that it doesn't offer multizone cooking like the similarly sized Ninja but we're being picky. If you've got a family to feed, this is excellent value for an excellent air fryer.