Ninja - Foodi Dual Zone DZ100/100WM/090

I have a Ninja Foodi 5-in-1 which comes with a grill plate so you can grill a burger or a ribeye indoors without setting off the smoke detector. I had it in an apartment. (The meat thermometer feature doesn’t work very well so don’t pay extra for it.) I used it so much in the first 6 months that I literally never used my oven and started storing pots and pans in the oven.

I used mine so much that after the first six months I realized that I had used my oven ZERO times, so I started storing pots in the oven and kept the air fryer in a sheet pan covering the two left stove burners (which I rarely used). I’m not a big baker, though. I value crispy and crunchy textures highly and I love roasted vegetables, which the air fryer excels at. My specific model (Ninja Foodi 5-in-1) comes with a grill plate and is virtually smoke-free—I could grill a burger or a ribeye without setting off my smoke detectors. (All this is past tense because I used to live in an apartment, but then I was laid off so I moved in with family.)

We have the dual zone. Happy with the cooking, but be gentle - if you bang the baskets around, the handles can crack. Four stars for that; not quite as sturdy as this house with a 5 year old would like.

I hate our dual drawer ninja. It’s slow and the drawers r small. Regular consori is so much better. Live in NorCal? U can have mine.

Some personal feedback on this as I spent the last week picking an air fryer. Size of the fryer was a big factor in our search. First I bought the Ninja Pro XL 6 in 1. I liked that it would get to 450 degrees. We ended up returning it because it was so loud it sounded like a plane taking off. Second we got the Instant Pot, due to the positive online and Americas Test Kitchen reviews from a few years ago. We got the updated version with the window. That one got returned because one, it smelled absolutely awful when heated. Second, the bottom plate would pop up and sit at an angle as soon as it started to warm up. This is a safety issue because it would fly out when trying to dump out hot food. After looking back at the "positive" reviews, I realized they are almost all incentivized. Third and final one we got is the Ninja Foodi 8qt two basket fryer. So far so good. It's still kind of noisy, but it's tolerable. The dual basket is a nice option. Also even though it's dual, the dimensions are still surprisingly compact. It's slightly wider than a single basket model, but it wasn't any deeper. We also considered a Midea because Sam's has some, but they are huge.

I can fit a 4.5 pound whole chicken in the ninja dual shown above. It does touch the sides. I cook it breast down first and flip over halfway through. Beautifully and evenly browned all over. Fries, I don’t fill near as full and shake the basket halfway through for best results

I bought a cheap one that was really too small, but worked ok. Then I was gifted an 8 qt Ninja, which is amazing Cooks twice as fast as the cheapie and I don't have to cook a meal in sections

Ninja 8 qt No app

Ditto, although I have the copper coloured one which (angrily) isn't the same shade of copper as it is on my ninja kettle. I never dishwasher mine. Just stand for a while after use with hot water and a squirt of fairy liquid in it.

For a dependable option that performs well daily, the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone stands out. Most users highly praised it for its consistent performance and strong build quality. It’s especially good if you want something that won’t burn out fast and can handle frequent use. FWIW I pulled together Reddit sentiment data on air fryers (Google RedditRecs). You can filter by capacity or reliability to see how different models rank. Same disclaimer that some links are affiliate and support the analyses.

I have a Ninja, two technically one is a grill with crisper basket. It is usually pretty accurate according to air fryer specific directions. It's a dual basket so if I'm running both at once I need to increase the time/temp a little bit. I think any major brand should be ok, but what I'll say is that it's important to learn and get a feel for how your machine works. Sometimes you gotta burn something before you learn to adjust your directions. I know that's not what you want to hear but honestly you'll be glad when you figure it out.

Ah yeah that brings me back to my original point Sorry to hear, I do recommend a Ninja, they have quite a few models that suit different use needs. Be warned, it's easy to get sucked into the Ninja Shark ecosystem. I've got an indoor grill, dual basket air fryer, and now the Blendsense IQ system.

I would recommend either the Dual Zone or the FlexDrawer. We've tested very similar Ninja models and they've both performed very well and are easy to clean. I would not recommend the DoubleStack. As you mentioned, the rear placement of the fans and heating elements does lead to very uneven cooking (food closest to the back gets cooked much faster). A rating of 1670 W is very typical for North American air fryers. You mentioned that your previous model was rated for 2300 W, which means you're probably outside of North America. Most dual-basket models in the UK, Australia and Europe will draw 2300+ watts, and the added power is absolutely a benefit for cooking speed (especially for dual basket models where two chambers are cooking at once). Lastly, in my experience the plastic smell does go away after a few uses. This is common for most brands of air fryers!