How We Research
We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-22 · 12 min read · Independent comparison
air fryer multi purpose rack at a Glance
• Amazon Basics Kitchen 3-Tier — best for adding vertical storage and counter space in a busy kitchen; pick this if you want a wheeled cart with adjustable shelf heights and a 175-pound total capacity.
• Rottay Quarter Baking Sheet — best for oven and toaster-oven cooking that needs airflow under the food; pick this if you want two stainless pans with matching wire racks that lift food out of grease.
• Linda's Essentials Silicone Trivets — best for protecting countertops and tables from hot pots and pans; pick this if you need flexible, dishwasher-safe pads rated to 446°F in both round and square shapes.
• E-far 10½ — best for round cookers and layering food in a basket; pick this if you want two 10½-inch stainless racks with stable feet and narrow wire spacing.
• QYH 300 — best for fast, no-measuring cleanup on trays and racks; pick this if you want hundreds of precut 8x12-inch unbleached sheets you can grab one at a time.
This is the odd one out on the list, and that is exactly why it leads. The Amazon Basics Kitchen 3-Tier is not a rack that sits inside a cooking chamber — it is a freestanding kitchen cart on caster wheels that gives you the thing most air fryer owners actually run short of: somewhere to put the machine, its accessories, and the basket of odds and ends that comes with it. The frame is chrome-plated steel with two chrome shelves and a 1.5-inch wood top, and the whole thing measures 21 x 15 x 36.7 inches.
The numbers matter here. Each shelf holds up to 50 pounds, and the cart is rated for 175 pounds total. In practice that means the wood top can carry a microwave or a mini fridge, while the two shelves below take the air fryer itself, a baking tray, the wire racks, and a stack of parchment without any of it bowing. The 25.7-pound cart weight is light enough that the four caster wheels — two of them locking — actually roll when you want them to. Locking casters are the detail I care about most: push two levers down and the cart stops wandering mid-pull.
Adjustability is the second reason it wins. Shelf height moves in 1-inch increments, so you can raise or lower a shelf to clear a tall air fryer on the bottom and still fit a low-profile tray above it. Assembly needs no tools, and four chrome hooks are included for hanging a spatula, a pair of tongs, or an oven mitt off the side.
Who is this for? Someone whose air fryer currently lives on the counter, in a cabinet, or on the floor. The cart's multi-purpose framing — kitchen, office, playroom, laundry room, garage — tells you it is a storage solution first, and a cooking accessory second. If your counter is already crowded, this is the pick that fixes the root problem instead of adding to it.
The trade-off is honest and simple: it takes up floor space. At roughly 21 by 15 inches, it needs a real footprint, and if your kitchen has no spare corner, a cart that big is a liability rather than a help. It also does nothing inside the air fryer — no crisping, no airflow, no layering. In my opinion, that is a fair trade for anyone who wants the whole air fryer setup organized in one movable place.
The Rottay set is the closest thing on this list to a classic air fryer companion. You get four pieces: two stainless steel baking sheets at 12 x 10 x 1 inches and two wire cooling racks at 11.6 x 9 x 0.65 inches. The pans are quarter-sheet size, which is what fits most regular ovens and toaster ovens — the practical sweet spot for one or two people cooking a single tray of vegetables, chicken, or bacon.
The detail I like most is the corrugated bottom on the sheet pan. Those ridges do two jobs: they break contact between food and metal so sticking is less likely, and they let air move underneath, which helps food release and bake more evenly. The same corrugation stiffens the pan against warping, which is the usual failure point on thin trays that get slammed between a hot oven and a cold counter.
The racks are the piece that turns this into a "multi purpose" setup. Each rack is welded with dense parallel lines so small items do not drop through, and six raised feet lift it clear of the pan. That gap is what lets fat drip away while heat circulates around the food — the same principle behind a bacon rack, which the manufacturer calls out directly. Rack in the pan for roasting and crisping; rack on the counter for cooling cookies; pan alone for anything that wants to sit flat.
Material-wise it is stainless steel with no chemical coating, described as BPA free and rust resistant. The rolled edges are polished with no sharp spots, which matters when you are transferring a hot tray with your hands rather than tongs. At 3.1 pounds for the set, it is light enough to handle one-handed but thick enough not to feel flimsy.
Who should buy this? Anyone who roasts in an oven or toaster oven and wants a drip-lifting rack without buying pans and racks separately. It pairs naturally with an air fryer: batch-cook in the air fryer, finish or hold on the rack, serve off the pan.
The trade-off: this is not an air fryer basket insert. At 12 inches long, it will not fit most air fryer drawers, and it is not designed to. If your goal is stacking food inside the air fryer itself, look at the E-far racks below instead. This set is for the oven side of your cooking.
Here is the unglamorous pick that a lot of people end up using every single day. Linda's Essentials Silicone Trivets come as a four-pack: two round pads at 7 inches diameter and two square pads at 7.3 x 7.3 inches, each 0.27 inch thick, in black. They are made from 100% food-grade silicone and are free from BPA, BPS, PVC, lead, and phthalates.
Heat resistance is the headline spec: up to 446°F. That covers a hot air fryer basket pulled straight out of the drawer, a cast iron skillet, a baking dish, or a pot of pasta water — the kind of thing that leaves a permanent ring on a laminate counter if you set it down bare. The 0.27-inch thickness gives a real barrier rather than a token layer, and the flexibility means the pad conforms slightly to the surface instead of rocking.
The multi-function angle is genuinely broad, and it is not marketing fluff. Trivet, coaster, counter protector, drying mat, spoon rest, and potholder are all listed uses, and the square shape makes a better spoon rest than a round one because it has corners to catch drips. Two rounds and two squares means you can leave one square permanently under the air fryer and still have three pads free for serving.
Cleaning is where silicone earns its place. These are dishwasher safe and stain resistant, so a greasy pad goes in with the rest of the load instead of getting scrubbed. The brand is family-owned and states it is trusted by over 5 million customers worldwide — worth noting as a scale signal, though it is not a reason on its own to buy.
Who is this for? Anyone with a countertop they would like to keep unmarked, and anyone who moves hot cookware around a lot. If you own an air fryer, a trivet is the accessory you did not know you were missing until the first scorch mark appears.
E-far 10½
If you want to cook more food in one air fryer session, this is the pick I would point you to. The E-far set is two round stainless steel racks, each 10½ inches across and 1 inch tall, made from pure stainless steel with a mirror finish. Round matters: round racks fit round air fryer baskets, pressure cookers, stockpots, slow cookers, and water bath canners far better than square ones, which catch on the corners.
The design is built around airflow. Stable feet lift whatever you are cooking above the base of the basket or pot, so heat moves underneath instead of only across the top. That is the whole trick behind layering food — put one rack in, add food, and the second rack gives you a second level above it. The manufacturer lists layering explicitly as a use, along with cooling cookies and pies, steaming vegetables and meats, elevating food above grease, and doubling as a trivet for hot dishes.
Two small details make it pleasant to live with. The wire spacing is narrow, so small pieces like wings, nuggets, or sliced vegetables do not slip through the grate. And the edges are smoothed with no rough spots, which you notice the first time you lift a rack out of a hot basket with bare hands. The stainless steel is described as high hardness to resist deformation, and it is dishwasher safe.
At 170 grams for the set, these are light. That is good for handling, and it means the racks will not add meaningful weight to a basket that is already loaded with food.
Who is this for? Air fryer owners who regularly cook for two or more and want a second level, plus anyone who wants one rack that works across a pressure cooker, stockpot, and toaster oven. It is the most directly "multi purpose" item here in the cooking sense.
The trade-off: these racks are round and 10½ inches wide, so they only help if your cooking vessel is wide enough to take them. In a narrow air fryer drawer, a round rack this size simply will not drop in. Measure your basket before you commit — the rack only earns its keep if it fits.
This one is not a rack at all, and I am including it deliberately, because the fastest way to make any rack easier to use is to stop scrubbing it. The QYH set is 300 precut unbleached parchment paper sheets at 8 x 12 inches each, sold as a pack of three, made from natural wood pulp and described as food grade, fluorescent free, non-bleached, and waterproof.
The precut size is the entire point. You take one sheet out, lay it on a baking sheet or a rack, and you are done — no cutting a roll, no fighting curl, no trimming to fit. The sheets can be used in a microwave or oven up to 450°F, which covers normal roasting and baking temperatures.
Non-stick is the practical benefit. Food releases from the paper instead of bonding to metal, and a sheet between layers keeps baked goods from sticking to each other or dough from sticking to a pan. Cleanup drops to folding a sheet and throwing it away. The maker recommends single use for hygiene and cleanliness, which is the normal way parchment is used anyway.
Beyond lining trays, the listed uses are wide: cookies, cakes, macarons, breads, pizzas, potato chips, wings, burgers, and wrapping sandwiches, croissants, or hot dogs. That last group is worth noting — a sheet doubles as a wrapper, which is handy for lunches.
The trade-off is that it is a disposable supply, not a durable tool. It adds nothing structural, cannot lift food, and gets used up — 900 sheets total across the pack, which is a lot, but it is still a repeating need rather than a one-time purchase. In my opinion it belongs in the cart alongside a rack, not instead of one.
How We Picked
We compared published specifications and features across these five products — dimensions, materials, capacities, heat ratings, and the manufacturer's own described uses — and judged each one against a specific job in and around an air fryer. The ranking is our independent editorial opinion, not a measurement of sales or popularity, and no brand paid for placement here.
FAQ
how to use multi layer rack in air fryer
how to put rack in air fryer
Set the rack flat inside the basket with the feet down, so the grate sits above the bottom and heat can circulate underneath. Make sure it sits level and does not touch the heating element above. Round racks like the E-far fit round baskets better than square ones, which can catch on the corners.
can you use an air fryer without the rack
Yes. A rack is an accessory, not a requirement — the air fryer works with food sitting directly in the basket. A rack mainly adds airflow underneath the food, lifts it out of drippings, and lets you layer a second level. If you are cooking a single layer of something that does not need draining, you can skip it.
can you stack racks in an air fryer
You can, as long as the basket is tall enough and there is clearance above the top rack for air to move. Stacking works best with two racks of the same diameter, like the E-far pair, with food kept thin on each level. Do not stack so high that the top rack blocks airflow or nears the heating element.
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