busymama7 Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 We really don't have room for both. Largish family, 7 still at home. We only us the microwave for reheating leftovers or maybe melting butter. Would we just need a lot of metal containers that could go in the air fryer for reheating? Are there bowls or things with high sides for things like soup? We could use the stove for some things but as we are all at home for lunch everyone picks what they want of leftovers etc and dirtying a bunch of pans would not be fun. If there was something that went into the air fryer that could also be eaten out of (with hot pads!) That would probably work. The thing is I want an air fryer and I'm trying to figure out how to work it. Losing the countertop microwave is about the only way. We are remodeling the kitchen in the next six months and if I really miss it I could install one over the cooktop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 I love my air fryer, but there is no way I'd give up my microwave for it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymama7 Posted February 28, 2022 Author Share Posted February 28, 2022 2 minutes ago, catz said: I love my air fryer, but there is no way I'd give up my microwave for it. Ah bummer 😕. Do you leave it out or store it inside a cupboard? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 Have you used an air fryer before? One of the particular issues we had was batch size for our family of 6. It took as much time to do multiple batches of food as it did to use our oven on the convection setting. We used them side by side for a variety of foods, and I posted our experiences here on the board. IIRC, the only food for which there was an above and beyond/so much better experience was for the french fries. We decided it wasn't worth the counter space and were glad we had borrowed before we bought. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymama7 Posted February 28, 2022 Author Share Posted February 28, 2022 2 minutes ago, prairiewindmomma said: Have you used an air fryer before? One of the particular issues we had was batch size for our family of 6. It took as much time to do multiple batches of food as it did to use our oven on the convection setting. We used them side by side for a variety of foods, and I posted our experiences here on the board. IIRC, the only food for which there was an above and beyond/so much better experience was for the french fries. We decided it wasn't worth the counter space and were glad we had borrowed before we bought. No I haven't. I was hoping to use it more for me for quick lunches as a way to cook veggies and a chicken breast or something. I knew the capacity for coming for everyone probably wouldn't work. We do have a convection setting gon the oven. But I don't want to heat it when cooking just for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Arcadia Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 (edited) 53 minutes ago, busymama7 said: Ah bummer 😕. Do you leave it out or store it inside a cupboard? I have a 8 quart Ninja air fryer and large microwave on my counter top. My over the stove microwave kaput years ago and we didn’t want another over the stovetop microwave. I am short and I can’t see the inside of the over the stove microwave. Both air fryer and microwave get equal use and we sometimes use both concurrently. Edited February 28, 2022 by Arcadia Clarification 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Insertcreativenamehere Posted February 28, 2022 Share Posted February 28, 2022 We have an air fryer but no microwave. I'd happily toss the air fryer for a microwave at this point. It's useful but a microwave is more useful. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
City Mouse Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 I agree that one doesn’t replace the other. Not having a microwave would make things more difficult in my house of 4 adults. We rarely have sit down meals where we all eat the same thing at the same time. I recently got an air fryer toaster oven to replace a smaller toaster oven, and I do think that was a good exchange. However, I would never give up the microwave for an air fryer if I had to choose. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Forget-Me-Not Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 I’ve never used a countertop air fryer, but my Breville Smart Convection Oven is fantastic and replaced a lot of the microwave stuff for us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
catz Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 2 hours ago, busymama7 said: Ah bummer 😕. Do you leave it out or store it inside a cupboard? We have some open shelving in our kitchen so we put it away but it is easy access. It is one of the very largest basket models. I also agree with doing batches being hard for a larger family. Even the biggest models can't do huge quantities. When we want to crisp up leftovers, we typically use the oven anyway. We mostly use the airfryer for homemade fries and veggies. I've played with it for a few other things but nothing has become regular yet. When the air fryer dies, I'd like to clear enough counter space to get a small oven style one. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AmandaVT Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 Our microwave broke a few weeks ago and we're waiting for it to get repaired (under the sink - came with the house). I didn't think we used it all that much but I am super annoyed at not being able to warm up coffee/tea quickly. I'll have a half cup and want to warm it up a bit and now I can't. Although today, I used a small saucepan on the stove, which worked, but was not as quick/easy as 30 seconds in the microwave. Leftovers are easy enough to heat on stove or in toaster, but the coffee is getting annoying. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiewindmomma Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 3 hours ago, busymama7 said: No I haven't. I was hoping to use it more for me for quick lunches as a way to cook veggies and a chicken breast or something. I knew the capacity for coming for everyone probably wouldn't work. We do have a convection setting gon the oven. But I don't want to heat it when cooking just for me. An air fryer is just a tiny convection oven. It requires a preheat time as well as cook time. You can do things in that time while you're waiting for all of that to come together, but it's still going to be at least a half hour block of prep. Preheat does go faster--5 minutes or so was the average come to temperature time--but a chicken breast is about 10 minutes on each side/20 minutes total. Quick lunches here are grabbing a pre-mixed salad or the like--under 5 minutes prep--so I wanted to make sure you were aware of the time issue. For my quick/healthy lunches, I've had better luck bulk cooking chicken breasts for me at the beginning of the week and then just reheating as needed. Most of the time I just eat the chicken cold as part of a salad. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
katilac Posted March 1, 2022 Share Posted March 1, 2022 1 hour ago, prairiewindmomma said: An air fryer is just a tiny convection oven. It requires a preheat time as well as cook time. My air fryer does not require preheating. My ovens take a pretty long time to preheat, so that's a big plus for me. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymama7 Posted March 1, 2022 Author Share Posted March 1, 2022 11 minutes ago, katilac said: My air fryer does not require preheating. My ovens take a pretty long time to preheat, so that's a big plus for me. Mine too! Like at LEAST 30 min or more to get up to 400. It really isn't usable for anything other than whole family meals. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
busymama7 Posted March 1, 2022 Author Share Posted March 1, 2022 1 hour ago, AmandaVT said: Our microwave broke a few weeks ago and we're waiting for it to get repaired (under the sink - came with the house). I didn't think we used it all that much but I am super annoyed at not being able to warm up coffee/tea quickly. I'll have a half cup and want to warm it up a bit and now I can't. Although today, I used a small saucepan on the stove, which worked, but was not as quick/easy as 30 seconds in the microwave. Leftovers are easy enough to heat on stove or in toaster, but the coffee is getting annoying. Yeah the reheating thing is the issue here I think. We do use it quite a lot for that kind of thing. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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