A dual-drawer air fryer will allow you to get away from the oven for all however the largest meals and can make cooking cheaper and less complicated. However they’re huge home equipment and you might want to be certain that the one you purchase will give you the results you want.
Ninja makes a number of the most modern air fryers round. When you’re in search of a dual-drawer air fryer that’ll provide the most cooking flexibility, two of your greatest bets are the Ninja Double Stack XL and the Ninja FlexDrawer.
Every gives a unique tackle the usual dual-basket air fryer design. Usually, two-basket home equipment supply two standard-size cooking drawers, often 4-5L/4-5QT every. You possibly can see all our high suggestions in our round-up of the perfect dual-drawer fashions we’ve examined. (Keep in mind that, on the time of writing, we haven’t accomplished our FlexDrawer evaluate, so it’s not included.)
The Double Stack XL and the FlexDrawer supply way more cooking flexibility than a typical air fryer – however they achieve this in fully alternative ways. On this article, we’ll evaluate the 2 so you’ll be able to select the proper one for you.
When you’re within the US, the equal air fryer to the UK’s FlexDrawer is the FlexBasket, which has an analogous construct however is a smaller, 7QT mannequin, which may match 2lbs of meals in every 3.5QT basket. It’s an enormous step down by way of cooking capability from the UK mannequin, which gives the equal of an 11QT capability.
Within the US, the Double Stack XL known as the DoubleStack XL however is in any other case the identical mannequin.
The important thing purpose to purchase
The Double Stack XL
This air fryer is a countertop space-saver. We reckon it’ll prevent round 20cm/8in alongside the size of your countertop (when in comparison with the FlexDrawer or a typical dual-drawer mannequin). We’ve acquired extra info in our devoted article.
As well as, every of the 2 drawers of the Double Stack can cook dinner two layers of meals, because of the wire racks that include the equipment, doubtlessly doubling the cooking area.
The FlexDrawer
This air fryer has a singular twist. Its two, 5.2L separate cooking sections may be mixed into one, 10.4L cooking “megazone”, by eradicating the divider between the 2. This provides you the choice to cook dinner massive joints of meat and bake full-sized loaves of bread or muffins in your air fryer.
Air fryer design and dimensions
Each air fryers have a usually sturdy Ninja construct. Not like Ninja’s specialist mixture air fryer, the Ninja Foodi Max Well being Grill, the Double Stack and the FlexDrawer are virtually solely plastic. Neither mannequin is ugly however they’re functional-looking at greatest, with a no-frills design that gained’t carry any aesthetic aptitude to your kitchen.
What the Double Stack XL gives is a lot of cooking area for a smaller countertop footprint. Its dimensions are 38.5 (H) x 28 (W) x 47cm (D) / 15.14 (H) x 11.25 (L) x 19.22in (W), that are roughly commonplace for dual-drawer fashions.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The distinction is that Ninja has flipped a traditional dual-drawer air fryer on its facet, in order that the cooking drawers are one above the opposite. It’ll takes up a lot much less of your kitchen countertop, width-wise, though it’s a bit deeper and should jut out past the road of your different countertop home equipment. It’ll match underneath commonplace kitchen cupboards with loads of room to spare.
Neither air fryer has a viewing window, so that you’ll must open the drawer to examine in your meals, which isn’t very best when baking.
Externally, the FlexDrawer has a reasonably standard dual-drawer design, besides that it incorporates a single, massive drawer, cut up in two. Its dimensions are 32.7 (H) x 49.6 (W) x 31.6cm (D).
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The smaller US FlexBasket has dimensions of 11.26 (H) x 11.81 (W) x 11.26in (D).
Cooking controls and modes
Each fashions function an intuitive, straightforward to make use of digital show and dial and button controls.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The Double Stack XL has fewer modes than many different air fryer fashions:
- Air fry
- Max crisp (for frozen meals)
- Bake
- Roast
- Reheat
- Dehydrate
However you’ll be able to regulate these features by time and temperature in order that they cowl virtually something you’d need to cook dinner within the equipment.
The FlexDrawer has an extra setting, for proving dough. This is smart, given its bigger capability. Listed below are its cooking modes:
- Air fry
- Max crisp (for frozen meals)
- Bake
- Roast
- Reheat
- Dehydrate
- Show
It’s also possible to regulate these modes by time and temperature.
As well as, each air fryers have Match and Sync features. Match lets you programme one drawer and immediately copy the cooking directions to the second drawer. Sync allows you to programme two separate cooking programmes however be certain that they end on the similar time, so there’s just one alarm to fret about, no must preserve meals heat, and you may dish up each drawers on the similar time.
Neither mannequin has a shake alert. A shake alert is an alarm that goes off 50-60% of the way in which by the cooking programme, to remind you to shake up your fries. It’s a function we missed whereas utilizing each of those fashions.
Cooking capability
The Double Stack XL has a cooking capability of 9.5L/10QT, cut up over two drawers, with two layers every. What this implies is you’ll be able to separate protein and greens in every drawer, permitting you extra flexibility within the cooking area. When you are inclined to cook dinner meals that comprise a protein and two or three kinds of greens, this will probably be an excellent choice for you.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The FlexDrawer has a fair bigger, 10.4L capability general, which may deal with a lot bigger volumes of meals, making it the higher choice for roasts and baking.
Downsides
The Double Stack XL is a wonderful air fryer – but it surely’s not excellent. Throughout our time testing it, we discovered that, as a result of the warmth sources are behind every drawer, it cooked sure kinds of meals (fries, roast potatoes) inconsistently. That is compounded by the truth that there’s no shake alert. As an alternative, you’ll must set an alarm in your telephone to remind you to shake up meals halfway by cooking.
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
Emma Rowley / Foundry
The FlexDrawer additionally lacks a shake alert and it has one different limitation, because of its design. If you might want to open a drawer to examine on meals, you’ll clearly expose each side to the cool air, which might have an effect on baking or proving.
Neither mannequin has a viewing window to examine on cooking meals with out opening the drawer.
Worth and availability
The Ninja Double Stack XL is extensively accessible in each the UK and the US.
It’s an costly equipment within the UK, retailing for £269.99. At this stage, there’s no worth benefit from selecting any retailer, with an over/underneath distinction of round £1. It’s accessible from Ninja, John Lewis, Argos and Currys. This makes it round £50 greater than the FlexDrawer and £90 greater than the Ninja Foodi Max Twin Zone, each of that are comparable fashions by way of performance and cooking area. Whether or not it’s value it or to not you actually depends upon how a lot you worth a bit extra counter area.
Within the US, it’s a bit much less expensive, with an MSRP of $229.99. You should purchase it from Ninja, Amazon and Walmart, amongst different retailers. Once more, it’s round $50 greater than the FlexBasket, which is just an 8QT equipment in its US incarnation and simply barely greater than the 10QT two-drawer Foodi.
The Ninja FlexBasket has an RRP of £269.99 however is at present accessible from quite a lot of retailers for £219. You should purchase it from Ninja, John Lewis, Argos and Amazon.
Within the UK, the value distinction makes the FlexDrawer a way more interesting choice, so long as you may have the counter area to face it.
Within the US, the smaller, 7QT FlexBasket is out there from Ninja, Finest Purchase, Walmart and Amazon for $149.99, down from $180. Once more, this makes it a sexy choice, though its cooking capability is considerably lower than that of the Double Stack.
Verdict
Each air fryers are among the many greatest double-drawer fashions you should purchase.
They’re straightforward to make use of and supply intelligent cooking options. The Double Stack is the higher choice if you wish to cook dinner quite a lot of smaller sides individually, however on the similar time. Nonetheless, though it has the benefit of a smaller countertop footprint, it doesn’t produce fairly such even outcomes.
The FlexDrawer is greatest for baking and roasting bigger volumes. It produces nice outcomes and is considerably cheaper. General, we predict it’ll be the higher alternative for most individuals and can be our high advice.
To see all of our most advisable air fryers, take a look at our round-ups of the perfect air fryers general, the perfect air fryer ovens, the perfect Ninja air fryers and the perfect dual-drawer air fryers. Keep in mind that we haven’t but accomplished our FlexDrawer evaluate, so that you gained’t see it in any of the charts but.