I’m another air fryer convert. I have 2. In over 12 months l have only used my oven once and that was for bulk batches of apple and blackberry crumbles (24 in total).

l use my air fryer for everything: full roast dinners, baking cakes, fish, pizza and the list goes on. No need to preheat, faster and more healthy to cook.

Thanks, it's not an air fryer, just a smaller oven.

Since you can get a full sized oven that is also a microwave I think you should get two full sized ovens since the price is much the same as buying a compact oven. I use a full sized oven every day….. and I use my steam oven several times a week too- the size of the element is the same in a full sized oven as a compact so there is no efficiency in the cost of running. And since you have to reserve counter space for an ugly air fryer I would never have one.

Please share the make of your air fryer, Sarah - I’ve been trying to find one that is small and not ugly, so far without much success…

Thanks Sarah! That’s a tiny air fryer… just what I’ve been looking for. (And apologies, globalgecko for briefly diverting your post)

@Jonathan Thank you for your answer. We don't need two large ovens, we only want to use the bigger one when we have roasts, otherwise we just want to use a smaller one on a regular basis. We are not interested in a steam oven or an air fryer, just a smaller oven. The question is whether or not the smaller one, which as you say has the same sized element, would save us money in the long run as they are more efficient in heating up, or just stick to one large one.

There will be no difference in the running cost of a compact appliance versus a full sized oven. That’s why I suggested two full sized ovens.

I would definitely go for a combination microwave/ 2nd oven - great for quick meals and still get oven benefits eg jacket potatoes, wedges, quiche …

I’d suggest looking at the specific ovens’ energy data labels….they will tell you exactly how many kWh per cycle. From there you can work out how much it will cost you to run either oven, and inform your decision with facts. https://www.seai.ie/home-energy/energy-labelling-and-ecodesign/energy-labelling/Understanding-the-label-on-domestic-ovens.pdf

I would fully agree with your decision to go for two ovens. I use my smaller oven for most daily cooking. It’s built in above a larger oven. The larger oven is great for roasts, batch cooking etc. Having two ovens leaves the option for slow cooking at a really low temperature, while being able to do roast potatoes or baking at the same time. I agree that two different sized ovens probably have the same size element, but surely it is more energy efficient to heat up a small space, rather than a larger space. I suppose this could be answered by running each size of oven separately and seeing the energy consumption on a smart electricity meter. Or check with the manufacturers?
As for the combination microwave oven option, I don’t think that the microwave is as good as a freestanding one. You get much better results when food is microwaved on a turntable. I used to have a fantastic Bosch microwave combination oven that had a turntable- even when using the fan oven. Sadly I’ve never been able to find a microwave combination turntable oven again.

Yes I had something similar to that, but with a curved back (really easy to clean). It’s too late anyway! When I was looking a few years ago there was nothing similar available that could be delivered to Ireland.

I have a Siemens combination oven with microwave. It has no turntable and has been manufactured to work that way and frankly I find it easier to clean than a turntable, it’s way bigger than most stand alone microwaves, is every bit as effective as my main oven without using up counter space…… and being able to cook with a combination of microwave and main oven speeds up a mid week lasagne from 45 minutes to 25 so there is an efficiency there.

Separately most double ovens have two elements in the smaller oven and the larger one may well only have one plus a fan- consult your manufactures handbook to see if using the smaller oven is in fact more expensive.

And let’s not get silly about the cost of running an oven- given most of us run them for for no more than 30 minutes a day that’s only about 15p of electricity which means you have to stop using your main oven for nearly 2 years before you recoup the purchase price of an air fryer

@pjdklm Ah yes, that makes sense, thank you! The smaller one is 0.72 kw/h and the larger 0.81 so not a great deal in it (fan assisted). So despite not having a huge difference I concur with @No No and think the convenience makes up for it.

Sorry just jumping in on this - I had one in my last house which was a Samsung and its basically one oven that splits into too so you can use it as two smaller ovens or one large one! It was amazing and I loved it. Not too expensive either.

Will try and find the link.

It's called a dual cool flex. Various versions of them but it was so handy even if we used one for cooking and one end for warming the plates etc.

@Tani H-S How interesting! One of the problems I am having (not just with the oven in the kitchen but with all the stuff needed for a new house) is the amount of choice. There just seems so many different varieties of everything nowadays. Thanks for this.

I have this set up in my new-ish kitchen extension. I don’t like it. We use the compact oven a fair bit but it’s a faff having to remove the shelves to use the microwave and remove the glass plate to use the oven. I wish I’d just gone for an oven and a microwave rather than an oven and a compact oven! That said, there are only two of us and we don’t need lots of space in the ovens.