From air fryers to spiralisers, kitchen gadgets come and go. But the newest multi-purpose countertop cookers are vying to be more than just the latest must-have consumer item.
Thanks to their versatility, they’re looking to be a viable alternative to the traditional stove and oven combination.
Small but mighty steam cooker
If you’ve ever wondered what makes restaurant food so juicy, it’s likely to be steam cooking. Steam ovens are common in pro kitchens because they cook food quickly without drying it out.
Steam carries more heat energy than dry air and as it condenses on the food, it releases this energy directly onto the surface, cooking food faster and more evenly.
Smeg has built a steam cooker into a combi oven and made the whole thing small enough to sit on top of a counter. Inside, a water tank connects to a boiler system.
Choose the steam function, and the boiler heats the water and releases steam into its 30-litre cooking chamber.
You can also combine steam with fan heat for crispy roast joints, potatoes or bread, or use one of the oven’s 10 other functions, including air frying, baking, grilling and defrosting.
Its 33 automatic programmes can feel overwhelming, but clear controls and steam-cleaning keep it user-friendly. Compared to a regular oven, the Smeg’s smaller cavity heats up faster and uses less energy.
Smeg 10-in-1 Countertop Combi Steam Oven
A clear winner on the air fryer market
There are several features that make the Daewoo stand out in the busy air fryer market.
First, is its see-through glass cooking chamber, which gives you a 360° view of your food as it cooks (no need to open the drawer and lose heat while checking on your food).
Second, is its huge 12-litre cooking chamber, which can be enlarged to 17 litres with the extender ring.
While larger countertop ovens like the Smeg and Gastroback offer more capacity overall, it’s rare to find such volume in a dedicated air fryer. Most basket models top out at around 10 litres. This space, combined with the adjustable racks, lets you roast an entire chicken or prepare a full meal in one go.
Finally, unlike standard air fryers that use a fan with a coiled metal heating element, the Daewoo pairs its fan with a halogen bulb, which heats up quicker than a coil.
Also, the intense heat it generates means your food can be crispy on the outside and moist on the inside. But beware: it’s easy to overcook your food. Also bear in mind that halogen air fryers are not always as energy efficient as regular basket versions.
Put a lid on it with this multipurpose gadget
Air fryers have always been efficient and versatile cooking appliances. But manufacturers have added so much functionality to them since they first appeared that some of the latest air fryers can all but replace a traditional stove-top and oven.
Take the Ninja Foodi 9-in-1 for instance. As well as air frying, it offers eight other cooking modes, including pressure cooking, steaming, grilling, sautéing, dehydrating and yoghurt making.
To handle these, it comes with two lids: a pressure lid and a crisping lid. The pressure lid seals the pot to create high-pressure cooking, while the steam mode uses the same lid but with the vent open.
For things like air frying, roasting and dehydrating, the crisping lid’s heating element and fan blow hot air around food to brown it.
A bottom heating element provides gentle heat for slow cooking and yoghurt, or direct heat for searing and sautéing.
It’s a heavy appliance and takes up a lot of counter space, and switching lids mid-recipe can be fiddly. Still, its energy-saving potential is strong, but only when used for family-size meals.
Ninja Foodi 9-in-1 Multi-Cooker
Pizza without the flames
Wood-fired pizza ovens have been benefiting from style and structure updates in recent years and found their way into many more people’s gardens as a result.
But if you don’t have a garden (or simply prefer to start cooking by flicking a switch rather than igniting wood), an all-in-one countertop oven could offer the quick cooking and fluffy-yet-crispy crusts you seek.
The Gastroback Design Oven Air Fry & Pizza has six heating elements, four at the top and two at the bottom, which can be controlled separately for different functions and precise heat control.
Air frying, baking, roasting, dehydrating and defrosting use all elements coupled with the built-in convection fan.
The upper elements are for browning and grilling, the lower ones for reheating or cooking pastries, and you can use either for toasting bread and buns.
Removing the racks and adding the rotating spit turns the Gastroback into a rotisserie oven, or you can use the ceramic pizza stone and the top heating elements for pizzas.
With its 22-litre cooking chamber, the Gastroback heats up faster than a larger, conventional oven.
These energy savings are greatest when used for smaller dishes or quick meals, but it may be less efficient if used solely for toasting or reheating food that could be done with a smaller appliance.
The sacrifice you make for the Gastroback’s countertop size is that it won’t handle the kind of large dishes a more traditional, 60-litre oven can. And with so many functions and icons, not to mention accessories, getting to grips with using it can feel intimidating at first.
Gastroback Design Oven Air Fry & Pizza
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