Contempo Digital Air Fryer Oven 25.7L

This review is for the 25.7L oven-style Contempo air fryer sold by Big W, not the smaller basket models. This benchtop oven has many functions - air fryer, bake, roast, grill - which make it a terrific device. But it's been made to a very low price… Read more

point which means its strengths perhaps are outweighed by its frustrations.

The home cook will be frustrated that you simply can't tell if it is cooking or not. This is after a year of cooking with it -

- after finishing a cooking cycle, say ten minutes, it will beep and then go into a one-minute cool-down period. If you want to cook the item a couple of minutes longer, or cook something else, you set the controls and press Start. But the sound you hear - is it the sound of the cooking cycle starting? Or the one-minute cooldown? You can't tell. The Start button flashes but it is ambiguous.

I am doing fifteen things at once when I cook. I don't need an oven/air fryer which doesn't tell me clearly from the other side of the kitchen if it is cooking, or not.

I have to wait, and watch, and if the clock doesn't change after a minute or so, then I know it's not actually cooking, so I have to set the cooking instructions again or press Start properly.

All that would make this product rate 4 or even 5 stars is a diode which glows "on" whenever actual cooking is happening.

There are reviews on the Big W web site which discuss the air fryer oven exterior being very hot to the touch, which hints at not enough insulation or not enough care in assembly so interior metal is touching the outside and conducting heat. There are also complaints about control board failures early in use. I've also noticed the door seals could be improved to stop hot air escaping and therefore provide better control of the oven/air fryer temperature.

But assuming you have one of these that hasn't got manufacturing faults, in truth it's almost a punch-above-it's-weight device, especially if you want to cook just one thing, and you can avoid getting frustrated by not having a queue of things ready to go into it, whether food or simply wanting to warm your dinner plates.

The control panel takes several attempts to understand how to set the cooking type, temperature, and duration (all using the same dial button) and it beeps with each step, but that's OK. The Instruction Manual is clear.

The variety of functions is excellent and they all can be trusted.

We purchased this device as a benchtop replacement for our deceased inbuilt wall oven (and converted the cavity into a cupboard).

I wish it had a diode.