Frequently asked questions

Nearly all full-size ones do: they draw 1,800 watts, the ceiling of a standard 15-amp US kitchen circuit, so they cost about 33.9¢ an hour at 18.83¢ per kWh. Budget four-slice ovens often draw 1,100–1,300 watts and are cheaper per hour. Full arithmetic here.

Yes. Both use a fan to circulate hot air around the food. An air fryer is a smaller cavity with a faster fan and a perforated basket; a convection oven is larger with a slower fan. The full comparison is here.

No. An air fryer introduces nothing a conventional oven does not. The two real considerations — acrylamide from over-browning starchy foods, and non-stick coatings — apply to ovens and toasters too, and both are modest. The evidence is here.

No — at 1,800 watts it costs a few cents an hour, and it uses less than your full-size oven for the same food because it heats a much smaller cavity. The sum is here.

No. A $400 Breville and a $108 Cuisinart both draw 1,800 watts, so they cost exactly the same to run. Spending more buys independently driven elements, build quality and published specifications — not lower electricity use.

For everyday single-tray cooking, mostly yes — and cheaper to run. For a turkey, big-batch baking, or delicate bakes that dislike a fan, no. The job-by-job answer is here.

Lower the temperature by about 25°F, or cut the time by roughly a fifth — do one, not both. The full conversion table is here.

Very little, mechanically — both use a fan to move hot air. 'Air fry' is usually a higher fan speed and a basket that lets air reach the underside of the food. If your oven has a convection fan and a perforated tray, it air fries.

Match it to what you cook on an ordinary day, not the once-a-year dinner party. Four slices is four slices; a cubic-foot oven fits a 13-inch pizza. Measure your counter depth and door clearance first. The sizing guide is here.

For anything that fits, yes clearly — a countertop oven heats about a cubic foot against roughly five in a wall oven. This is the biggest running-cost saving in the category. We costed it out.

Intact PTFE coating is stable at normal air-fryer temperatures and only degrades well above them. In oven-style air fryers most food sits on bare steel anyway. Full detail on coatings here.

They do opposite jobs: the microwave reheats fast without crisping; the air fryer crisps and browns but is slower. Most kitchens want both. The comparison is here.

Because the useful, checkable work in this category is not the tasting — it is gathering every published specification, citing it, and doing the running-cost arithmetic. That is what we do, and you can verify all of it. Our full method is here.

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Because its manufacturer publishes no wattage anywhere we could find, and we will not guess one or borrow it from a similar model. The gap is the honest answer, and we show it rather than filling it in.

Convection means there is a fan moving the air. 'Natural convection' means there is no fan — the air moves because hot air rises, which is true of every oven ever built. It is a marketing phrase, not a feature.

The biggest lever is using the small countertop oven instead of the full-size one for anything that fits on a tray. Skipping unnecessary preheats and choosing a lower-wattage budget oven help at the margins. Your electricity rate matters more than the oven you pick. The running-cost section covers all of this.