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Comment by Eisenstein | Hacker News Reader

With an Instant Pot, an induction burner, and a toaster oven you can make anything that would require a normal kitchen, just in smaller portions (as in, you aren't cooking a whole turkey or a giant casserole).

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On that note, I've been wondering about the recent hype about "air fryers", which - best I can tell, after looking into it repeatedly - are basically countertop, underpowered version of fan ovens that have been, in my life, a standard appliance in every kitchen I've ever seen. But maybe it's a sign of worsening economical prospects of the generation - people no longer own, only rent, increasingly worse quality apartments, so a basic kitchen with a fridge, a stove, an oven and maybe dishwasher and microwave, are things people no longer can rely on, or expect to have?

Maybe having modular devices that can do things as necessary and then be stowed are more practical than having large appliances bolted into counters taking space? I think that it is impractical for everyone in the world to have as much space as we currently think we need. We can get along just fine with smaller living spaces -- it is not a sign of poverty to be efficient.

The one advantage that air fryers have over standard convection ovens (IMHO) is that you can make smaller portions, and because these products are designed to cook small portions they can direct a ton of heat at the food, cooking it very quickly. Prepackaged meals' instructions usually mirror my experience as well, saying that cooking in an air fryer will require less cook time compared to an oven, and a drastically lower temperature as the heating element is literally right next to the food as the air circulates the heat.

Otherwise, if you already have a convection oven and don't mind waiting a bit longer, I don't see a good reason for purchasing an air fryer (other than the aforementioned advantage).

Not so much underpowered, but rather faster heat, higher fan speed and smaller (so proportionally higher powered but only useful for smaller portions). That makes it more convenient for many people than a regular convection oven. Not to say they are not over hyped, but they have their niche.

I used to dismiss air fryers as just a crappy benchtop oven, but Minute Food did a cool video explaining why that's an overly reductive view and they're actually kind cool https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AASP4P5vRAA

It really does work better than my conventional oven.

My stove came with "convection bake" and "convection roast" settings on the oven. Then some time after purchase I was offered to download an "air fryer" mode, but I would have to enable the wifi connection on my stove and use a smartphone app, which I do not want to do. Am I really missing much? Can a full-size home oven also be an effective air-fryer?

An air fryer is just a small convection oven and since I don't know how an update can make your oven smaller, it sounds like a gimmick to me.

My guess is that it's some useless mode like microwave ovens have a zillion of but which are perfectly straightforward to simulate with the right temp/power and time settings.

I have an older "convection" wall oven which I think probably has something like a $10 fan added to a regular oven BOM. From what I can tell if you put the item to be cooked on a cooling rack set in a baking tray, you have something close enough to an air fryer to be no different. Of course, people in small apartments have had toaster ovens forever so maybe an air fryer is just the modern replacement for that.

You can find convection toaster ovens which are effectively air-fryers.

I own a full modern kitchen (your mid-range appliances; full induction stove and a modern convection oven that even steams). My no-name air fryer makes crunchier fries than my convection oven.

Yeah, my “dream” kitchen that I’ll never have would have those instead of a range. And maybe a big slow cooker that could do a turkey.

Edit: oh yeah, add an air fryer and bread machine. And kettle obvs. Preheats water for a pasta pot faster than the stove. Immersion >> conduction heating.

The amount spent on a range buys a lot of gadgets. Not even wiring one up saves a circuit and dedicated run.

I couldn’t live without a dishwasher though…

How many people are you cooking for? I find that a dishwasher when only used for one or two people is more of a nuisance than washing dishes as they are used, mostly because you have to basically use all of your dishes before running it.

Usually two, but I usually rinse plates if they have something that I know cakes on.

When I empty it, I’ll let anything that needs another run in for the next run.

Don’t need to run it every night.

You cannot achieve a dishwasher quality with your hands only. Partially because of the temperature, partially because of chemicals. I will never even try to wash wine glasses by hands.

If you wash by hand you create a lot of friction so I wouldn't underestimate it. You'll likely also have less detergent residue on your dishes if you wash by hand, which apparently could be good for keeping your gut lining intact.

While all these are valid points, you just have to compare hand- and machine-washed glasses once and will never confuse them again. I believe that standard machine cycle includes enough rinsing to wash off detergent, but you may do another rinse just in case.

If I want squeaky-clean glasses, I clean them by hand so I can't say that I relate to your experience. Perhaps the dishwashing detergent that you use contains different chemicals.

Might also be because people misuse the dishwasher a lot - by overloading the machine past capacity, and then running an underpowered (or "eco") program. All those other programs are on the dishwasher for a reason, and it's not to trick the user into wasting more water.

Another mistake is thinking the 1h cycle is the most efficient. It is not. Uses more water and electricity than a normal cycle.

If you can get one of those countertop convention ovens (typically marketed as an air fryer/toaster oven combo) you can do quite a bit of what an oven/range can do. I use mine more than my actual oven now, and with some creativity I could probably use it almost entirely if I didn't have a range.

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