Kitchen · Breville · 2018
Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer
A countertop oven that air-fries properly, which is a different machine from a basket fryer.
Overall
8.2
out of 10
Axis scores
Kitchen is scored on these 5 axes. The total is their plain average — nothing is weighted.
- Performance — How well it does the core job
- Value — What the same money buys elsewhere
- Durability — Failure and fade reports past the one-year mark
- Ease of use — Setup, daily operation, cleaning, maintenance
- Quietness — Operating noise — a higher score means quieter
Specs
- Form
- Countertop oven with rack
- Element control
- Element IQ, individually driven
- Capacity
- Fits a small tray or a whole chicken
As published by the manufacturer. We didn't measure these ourselves.
Is it for you
Buy it if
- You would rather replace a toaster oven than add a single-purpose appliance
- Baking evenly matters as much as crisping
- Cooking for more than two people at a time
Skip it if
- Counter space is limited — the footprint is large
- You wanted one job done cheaply rather than six jobs done well
Toast browns from above. A bake heats from below. Element IQ drives the top and bottom elements separately according to what you selected, and that separation is the whole difference from a basket fryer, which crisps a small chamber by blasting it with high-velocity air. The same crisping happens here inside a proper oven cavity, so baking and toasting come out competent, not approximate.
The consequence is that it replaces an appliance instead of adding one. Where a toaster oven already holds counter space, the footprint argument mostly disappears and the choice stops being oven against fryer.
Durability separates it from the plastic-bodied competition for a structural reason. There is no nonstick basket coating to wear through. Racks and trays take any scrubbing you care to give them, and the most common way an air fryer dies simply does not apply here.
It is also the quietest machine in this comparison, and the largest, for one reason. A bigger cavity needs less air velocity to reach the same result.
Counter space and price are the costs. This is a substantial appliance, roughly the width of a microwave and taller, priced as an oven and not as an air fryer. Preheating runs eight to ten minutes against two to three for a basket unit, and across a year of weeknight cooking that gap is real — ten minutes of standing around before anything starts cooking.
The interior finish degrades over years of high-heat use, the one component owners consistently mention. The effect stays cosmetic.
Last updated . The scoring method is on how we rank.