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I have one rule for my kitchen bench: if it lives out, it has to earn it. I hate clutter. So only two appliances live on my bench permanently. One is the coffee machine, for obvious reasons. The other is my Ninja Foodi Dual Zone air fryer.
Why I went dual zone
I upgraded because I loved the idea of cooking two things at once at two different temperatures. That’s the whole trick. One drawer does the protein, the other does the veg, and they don’t have to agree on anything.
There’s a setting called Smart Finish that works out the timing so both drawers finish together. You put the slow thing in, it starts first, and the quick thing joins in later. Nobody is standing at the bench doing maths with two timers.
If you’re feeding more than a couple of people, Match Cook copies the same settings to both drawers, so it works like one big air fryer.
What it’s actually like to live with
The Ninja Foodi Dual Zone Air Fryer has two 3.8 litre baskets, 7.6 litres in total. It’s about 39 cm wide, 36 cm deep and 32 cm high, so it wants a decent stretch of bench.
The things I’d tell a friend:
- It lives out, so it gets used. It weighs a bit over 8 kg. That’s not something you want to haul out of a cupboard every night, which is exactly why mine doesn’t go in one.
- The drawers come out at bench height. No bending down to an oven, no reaching into heat.
- Cleaning is two baskets and two crisper plates. The crisper plates go in the dishwasher.
- It runs from 40°C to 240°C, with air fry, roast, bake, reheat, dehydrate and a max crisp setting. I mostly use air fry and roast.
The box also has opinions about fat. I leave the nutrition side to Leigh, who has the textbooks and isn’t afraid to use them. [Leigh’s guides]([INTERNAL LINK: Leigh’s nutrition guides])
The one Santa should have waited for
Not long after Santa brought me my Dual Zone, Ninja brought out the Ninja DoubleStack XXXL Smart 2 Drawer Air Fryer. Same two-drawer idea, but the drawers sit one on top of the other. I wish Santa had a bit more foresight, because that tower would have taken up less of my bench.
I haven’t cooked with one, so here’s what the spec sheet says rather than what my kitchen says:
| Dual Zone (mine) | DoubleStack XXXL Smart | |
|---|---|---|
| Layout | Side by side | Stacked |
| Capacity | 7.6 L (2 × 3.8 L) | 9.5 L (2 × 4.75 L) |
| Size (W × D × H) | 39 × 36 × 32 cm | 28.6 × 48.8 × 38.5 cm |
| Weight | 8.26 kg | 10.3 kg |
| Extras | Smart Finish, Match Cook | Smart Finish, Match Cook, stacking racks, built-in meat probe |
A few things worth knowing before you choose:
- It’s narrower, not smaller. The DoubleStack is about 10 cm narrower, but it’s about 13 cm deeper and 6 cm taller. Measure your bench depth and the gap under your top cupboards.
- Think about reach. The top drawer sits higher than either of my drawers. If you cook sitting down, check you can comfortably lift a hot, full basket out at that height.
- The probe is handy on tired days. It tells you when the meat is cooked, so there’s one less thing to judge.
- There’s a cheaper DoubleStack without the probe, and a smaller 7.6 L one, if you like the tower but not the extras.
What Leigh has
I use the air fryer more than I use my oven. It was my first kitchen adjustment I made after CRPS.
For starters, it feels faster, and I don’t have to heat up the whole oven for a single meal. Then there’s the psychological safety factor. On no-spoons days, particularly if I’m using a wheelchair or generally not feeling stable on my feet, the idea of lifting hot trays in and out of an under bench oven freaks me out. I’m not ashamed to say I have dropped trays of food coming out of the oven (and then sunk to the floor in a sobbing, frustrated, hangry mess next to the pile of food formerly known as my dinner).
I started with a Phillips 6L which was a good mid-of-the-range starting point because I honestly didn’t know if I’d use it. It served me loyally until a kitchen misadventure from let’s call them a former roommate who managed to burn through the electical cable with the gas stove. Don’t ask. There were lots of colourful words exchanged after the fire alarms and the building management and reset the circuit on the entire floor of my apartment building. A replacement magically appears without even a word…. they replaced it with a Gourmia 6.7L Digital Air Fryer (using my Costco membership I might add).
I have been lusting after the Ninja Crispi Pro 6-in-1 Countertop Glass Air Fryer. And not just because it’s pink, thank you very much. It’s more compact than what I currently have and it just looks nicer for something that lives on the bench. I love the idea of the detatchable modular cooking base which is glass, meaning that you can cook, serve and store all from the same ‘bowl’. And there’s three different sizes. Did I mention it comes in pink?! And it does come in other colours too.
Do you need a Ninja at all?
No. Here’s the honest version:
- Cooking for one or two? A good single-drawer air fryer will do most of what mine does, for less money and less bench. Cook the protein, keep it warm under foil, then do the veg.
- Already have an air fryer? Keep it. Every air fryer recipe on the site works in any brand. Small ones just mean cooking in batches.
- No air fryer and no budget for one? The oven still makes dinner. Use a tray at waist height if you can, and oven mitts that go up past the wrist.
- Buying anyway? Buy wherever suits you. Shop around, check the returns policy, and read the reviews from people who cook like you do. The links in this page are affiliate links to the official Shark Ninja Australian Amazon store. The prices are competitive and they do have sales. We appreciate you using our affiliate links if you do decide to purchase any equipment we recommend. The small commissions help cover the running costs of No Spoons to Cook and keep the content free.
Kerry’s spoon-saving notes
- Give each drawer a job before you start. Protein left, veg right, every time. One less decision.
- Use a silicone which can go straight into the dishwasher when you’re done or paper liner which can go straight into the bin. No extra clean up steps. I buy the paper liners come in a container so they don’t get squished in the drawer. This one fits the Ninja Dual and this one fits a 6L air fryer like Leigh’s.
- Put the crisper plates straight in the dishwasher. The baskets just need a wipe and a rinse.
- Leave it plugged in and pushed back on the bench. If it’s out and ready, it gets used on the days you need it most.
All our air fryer recipes are in one place if you want to put yours to work.
