Countertop · 5 min read
What an air fryer costs to run, worked through
The saving is real and smaller than advertised. It depends almost entirely on what the machine is replacing.
The mechanism, unglamorously
An air fryer is a small fan oven. There is no separate technology. Its advantage is volume: a domestic oven has around 60 litres of air, walls and shelves to bring up to temperature, an air fryer has about 5. Less mass means a two-minute preheat instead of fifteen, and less heat leaking out while it runs.
Numbers
| Appliance | Rated | Preheat | 20 min of cooking |
|---|---|---|---|
| Electric fan oven | 2.0 – 2.5 kW | 10 – 15 min | 0.9 – 1.2 kWh |
| Air fryer | 1.4 – 1.8 kW | 2 – 3 min | 0.3 – 0.5 kWh |
| Microwave | 0.8 – 1.2 kW | none | 0.2 – 0.4 kWh |
Note the rated power. An air fryer is not much less powerful than an oven. It simply runs for less of the time.
What that means in money
Five oven sessions a week, twenty minutes each, at €0.25/kWh:
- Oven — about 1.0 kWh a session, roughly €65 a year
- Air fryer — about 0.4 kWh a session, roughly €26 a year
Around €39 a year. Against a machine at €79.99 that is a two-year payback. Real, but not the revolution the category is sold on — and nil if you were previously using a microwave.
Capacity is the constraint nobody mentions
A 5-litre drawer feeds two comfortably, four at a squeeze. An 8.5-litre does a family in one go. Cooking in two batches undoes the time saving entirely, so buy for the number of people you actually cook for rather than the price bracket you had in mind.
What it is bad at
Anything wanting gentle, enveloping heat — cakes, bread, large joints. Fast-moving air crisps a chip and dries out a sponge. It is a crisping machine, not a small oven substitute.
Buy it because it is fast, because it crisps properly, and because it does not heat the kitchen in August. Treat the electricity saving as a bonus. If somebody quotes you a payback under a year, check what they assumed about your oven.