DeLonghi Idealfry FH2133W

Good Ideas Bad Materials Cooks Well But It Broke Because Of Design And Materials – I believe this fryer should have broken shortly after the warranty ran out. But I used it lots; and liked it until it broke; and Aldi gave me back the $159 with their usual attitude which is the nicest of any place I've known. I've taken many things back to Aldi. Does Aldi test or assess products for being fit to be sold? Premature breakage of… Read more

this air fryer was inevitable because of resilient plastic flexing on the thin joint of a brittle plastic fake window. Warranties are ok but what about receipts, time running out before actual use; and the worry if this had been a present rather than for my own use?

Chips cooked well on the bottom of the flat pan, stirring easily like a normal frying pan. The added hot air and grilling ensured crispy on the outside and fluffy inside, for chips, provided the cooking was long enough, inspected and stirred often and at a low enough temperature to avoid burning quickly.

The power control needed trial and error for its rotary knob zero-to-4 regardless of the moisture content and quantity of food --- seemed to have no actual temperature control. I cooked e.g. potatoes, sweet-potatoes, crumbed squid... lots...a variety; and wish the thing had a real window so I wouldn't have had to open and shut it so many times. The symbols-only instruction sheets are complex; freezers can be set from just below zero to -18; which makes for difference in cooking time --- and perfect-brown goes to black-and-crisp in only a short time after optimum.

I've a years-old Breville expensive smart toaster oven which gets used every day; so far haven't managed to cook chips/whatever the same as any air fryer; but the Breville can warm frozen food and lightly toast it taking only about ten minutes instead of the recommended 30 at about 180C! I'd hate to try to cook like that without a proper window and certainly not by using some printed sheets full of symbols too small to read and which demand fixed times and/or analog no-temperature-control knob settings of 1, 2, 3 or 4. This idea of cooking automatically is ridiculous; perhaps that's why people buy gadgets which never get used; because cooking needs practice and experimentation-learning.

I accidentally put in too much oil once, which coated the insides with brown which would have happened eventually anyway. I'd have hated to try to get it all apart to clean.

The timer knob had to be turned past ten minutes, then down, to get it to run for less than ten minutes. Why can't things just work as they pretend to? This minimal DeLonghi air fryer might have a more-expensive relative with the countless symbols automated and one might defrost and cook/burn soggy-food automatically, with luck.

The expensive Philips TurboStar still works; it's ideally powerful for its small capacity and has real temperature control. It kept stopping at random regardless of temperature. The call centre was delightfully friendly and helpful but it was out of warranty. To make sure I always had an air fryer, I got the DeLonghi after the Philips came back to life mysteriously; because air fryers can cook quickly and in ways only practical with air fryers. Microwave ovens produce tasteless mush with damaged (aka Poisonous) proteins; pity restaurants use microwaves; but we don't mind restaurants using microwaves because along with avoiding pre-cooked low-grade food instead, for less than a couple of restaurant bills, we can own an air fryer and be happy to buy another when they break.

An advantage of using less oil is because modern seed oils are processed to the point of being chronically dangerous. We use only natural traditional oils and fats; not industrial rubbish. Natural fats and oils are essential for health. Look it up; remembering how for every genuine health publication there are many more powerful intimidating bull sheets and adverts pushing rubbish from trillion-dollar parasites.

Our last 4 litres of seed oil in the house cost less than kerosene with a container (and likely no more healthy to cook with). We used the seed oil for lighting our huge slow-combustion fire. Considering the "Fat Free" fad is said to have been based on fake research and lies plus the best interests of the sucrose-fructose racketeers...now we can cook without exceeding the smoke-points of oils; and while avoiding damaging oils by multi-use. Rather than deep-frying, which spoils oils and fats, air fryers now make more sense than when they first came out. I used to waste litres of olive oil to keep the taste fresh; now the oil is flesh every time.

So a breakage disappointment is a minor glitch in the fun of cooking with air fryers; and nothing is perfect so good luck to DeLonghi for making an inexpensive very practical gadget and I'm certain they'll bit by bit correct the problems as the name has been around for a long time. Cheers

There are better options available – Machine is very basic and the instructions are extremely poor. The only positive about the machine is the large pan which is supposed to be sufficient for 6 people. The temperature dial is numbered from 1 to 4 and you have no idea about what temperature is on. The timer is also a dial. There's no digital readout and no light in it. This isn't… Read more

my choice of machines - it was purchased by my lovely and good intentioned husband after looking at them in store and sticking to a reasonable budget. After much discussion we decided not to take it back but instead try to find more information on this machine so it can be utilised more efficiently, so I am still trying to find the virtues of it. The jury is still very much out on this. If I had top make a recommendation, I would say save your money or look at another brand.