Air Fryer vs Nine-Function Multi Cooker: The Kitchen Appliance War

The air fryer on the worktop has an oddly silent presence. Last year, it featured in every TikTok recipe, buzzing through frozen chips and “healthy” nuggets. Now, in an increasing number of kitchens, it is being nudged towards the wall, partly unplugged, a little greasy and gradually becoming an overpriced bread bin. Its replacement is noisier, larger and rather pleased with its nine illuminated symbols: steam, bake, air fry, slow cook, sauté, grill, reheat, dehydrate, yoghurt.

The adverts make a bold promise: one machine to rule them all.

Yet this new multi cooker is more than an appliance to hurried parents, tech-minded food lovers and horrified traditionalists gripping their cast-iron pans. It is sparking an argument in the very centre of the home.

From air fryer favourite to crowded worktop: a quiet kitchen takeover

Browse any food group and the same image appears: a jam-packed worktop. There is an air fryer, rice cooker, slow cooker and toaster oven - plus an imposing multi cooker with more controls than an aeroplane cockpit. Its owner tends to ask one anxious question: “Which one should I keep?”

Once hailed as the miracle device for weekday dinners, the air fryer is gradually being edged out of the limelight. This nine-function giant says it can perform the same task, along with eight others, from one stainless-steel tower.

Consider Maya, 34, who prepares dinner every evening after work. A year ago, she proudly shared a photo of golden chicken wings with the caption “Air fryer changed my life”. Last week, she posted again: this time showing a hefty multi cooker bought in a sale, while the old air fryer sat pushed into the background like a forgotten former partner.

She now uses the same machine to steam dumplings, slow-cook Bolognese and bake banana bread. Her air fryer emerges only at weekends, when her partner maintains that wings “taste different” in the old basket.

Brands understand this appliance fatigue. They have seen people purchase three, four or five separate gadgets before complaining about the space they take up, their leads and the washing-up. Their proposed solution is straightforward: a single appliance that handles everything, taking the place of an air fryer, slow cooker, steamer and, in some cases, even an oven.

Food purists regard it as a danger to tradition - a culinary shortcut that evens out flavour and texture. Home cooks short on time see liberation, less washing-up and an appliance that acts like a sous-chef.

That is where the divide starts.

The nine-function multi cooker promise: clever shortcut or flavour destroyer?

The controversial multi cooker’s central feature is its “stacked time” method. You might begin by browning onions on a high sauté setting, move to pressure mode for speedy cooking, then allow the dish to finish on a low warming setting, all in the same pot.

For anyone arriving home late from work, that feels like a quiet revolution. Add lentils, vegetables, spices and a little stock, select a programme and leave it alone. The appliance controls the changing heat, the timing and the steam release.

It basically turns “I have no time” into “Dinner is already done.”

However, this convenience is precisely what sends traditional cooks round the bend. Chef friends argue that steam-heavy appliances dull flavour, and that an oven’s slow roasting cannot be replicated with a preset. One baker demonstrated the bread produced by her multi cooker: soft, pale and almost excessively polite.

She then brought out a loaf baked in a battered Dutch oven. Its crust crackled, its crumb sang and the kitchen carried the scent of a bakery. “Tell me this button can do that,” she said, tapping the multi cooker as though it were a badly behaved phone.

The machine won on convenience. The oven won on soul.

Beneath disputes over crispness and caramelisation lies a more basic question: what are we looking for in everyday cooking? When the aim is simply to get dinner on the table between two Zoom calls, the nine-function appliance appears almost heroic. Set it, forget it, eat.

When the aim is enjoyment, ritual and the unhurried dance of heat and time, that box of presets can feel doubtful. Let’s be honest: hardly anyone cooks that way every single day.

Most of us occupy the middle ground - craving rich flavour on a Tuesday evening while also not wanting to cry over an onion at 8:45 p.m.

How to use a new multi cooker without losing your sanity - or your taste buds

The cooks most content with this new appliance use it as a helper rather than a ruler. They disregard half the presets and rely on three or four that genuinely suit their lives: pressure cooking for beans and stews, air frying to reheat leftovers, steaming vegetables and slow cooking Sunday batch meals.

One straightforward habit helps them stay sane. They choose the desired texture first - crisp, tender, saucy or brothy - and only then select the function most likely to deliver it.

The goal should always come before the button.

A major mistake is attempting to “do it all” simply because the appliance claims it can. People add too many ingredients, too much liquid and too many stages, then question why everything tastes like well-seasoned mush.

Begin modestly. Pick one meal you already make successfully - perhaps your chilli, lentil soup or roast vegetables. Then convert only that recipe for the multi cooker, adjusting one variable at a time.

If it goes wrong, that does not mean you are a bad cook. It only shows that the preset was created by someone unfamiliar with your hob, your pan, your taste buds and your weekday pressure.

“Tech won’t replace real cooking,” says Léa, a home cook who tests appliances for her blog. “It just lowers the bar for how bad a Tuesday can be.”

• Use it for what it’s best at: dishes requiring long cooking, grains and “set-and-forget” meals become simpler, more affordable and less stressful.
• Keep one specialist tool you genuinely love: a reliable pan, a Dutch oven or your original air fryer if it still brings you joy.
• Wash it on the same evening: dried-on starch inside a multi cooker is a small nightmare waiting for you the next morning.
• Do not pursue every trend: one or two dependable recipes you make repeatedly are more valuable than ten you will never use again.
• Keep the simple reality in mind: the appliance is a tool, not a personality upgrade - it will not magically turn you into someone who meal-preps for the entire week.

What this “appliance war” reveals about the way we want to live

Behind the memes comparing air fryers with nine-function beasts is a quieter story about time, energy and what we consider “good food”. Some people feel guilty about using any machines, as though a real love of cooking demands three pans on the hob and a sink full of washing-up. Others feel guilty for leaving their gadgets unused, as if they are failing some contemporary productivity test.

The multi cooker is not only altering what we eat. It is also changing how we feel about the effort involved in every plate.

We have all known the moment: staring into the fridge with a phone in one hand, a delivery app in the other, while a very expensive appliance seems to judge us from the worktop. Perhaps the real change is not about bidding farewell to the air fryer or welcoming another all-in-one miracle.

Perhaps it is about accepting that, on some evenings, we want a perfectly crisp chicken thigh from a cast-iron pan, while on others we only want soup cooking as we shower. Both belong in the same kitchen, on the same worktop, with the same slightly scratched multi cooker humming away in the background.

The debate will continue online: “Real cooks don’t use presets”, “My multi cooker saved my life”, “Air fryer forever”. But the most compelling discussions ultimately take place away from the screen - in untidy, partly renovated kitchens, where a pot simmers, the multi cooker beeps and someone quietly decides what will stay and what will go.

Some air fryers will be relegated to cupboards. Some multi cookers will be sold second-hand.

Other households will strike a strange but honest balance between tradition and convenience, flavour and fatigue, and the meals we imagine making versus those we can manage on a tiring Thursday evening.

Key point	Detail	Value for the reader
Test, rather than worship, the nine functions	Concentrate on 3–4 modes that suit your real routines instead of trying every preset	Cuts overwhelm and helps the appliance work with your real life
Keep one “joy tool” beside the multi cooker	Retain the pan, Dutch oven or air fryer that you still enjoy using	Preserves flavour, texture and your own cooking identity
Let the gadget make weekdays easier, not replace cooking	Use it for beans, grains, stews and batch meals that would normally consume your time	Less stress, less washing-up and more energy for meals that truly matter to you

FAQ:

• Question 1 Is a nine-function multi cooker genuinely better than an air fryer?
• Answer 1 It is different rather than automatically better. You gain versatility - stews, rice, yoghurt and steaming - but may lose the intense crispness and speed that people enjoy from a dedicated air fryer.
• Question 2 Can one multi cooker safely replace several appliances?
• Answer 2 For many households, yes. It can take the role of a rice cooker, slow cooker, steamer and sometimes the air fryer, provided you accept certain compromises in texture and capacity.
• Question 3 Does food taste worse when made in a multi cooker?
• Answer 3 Not necessarily. Slowly simmered meals, curries, beans and soups can taste excellent. Its weaker areas are deep browning, crunchy crusts and delicate baking.
• Question 4 Is an upgrade worthwhile if my air fryer still works?
• Answer 4 Probably not if you mainly reheat and crisp food. If you want assistance with complete meals, dried beans, grains or batch cooking, however, an upgrade may genuinely make your routine lighter.
• Question 5 How should I choose between brands and models?
• Answer 5 Look past the marketing and consider capacity, how difficult it is to clean, noise level and the 3–4 functions you will use each week. The best appliance is the one that earns a lasting place on your worktop.