How We Research
We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-22 · 9 min read · Independent comparison
• Instant Pot Vortex 2QT — best for solo cooks and couples in small kitchens; pick this if you want real 4-in-1 cooking (air fry, bake, roast, reheat) in a 2-quart basket with dishwasher-safe parts.
• Linda's Essentials Reusable Round Silicone — best for anyone tired of scrubbing a sticky basket; pick this if you want reusable 9-inch perforated liners that keep airflow moving and cut cleanup to a rinse.
• ImnBest Heat Resistant Mat — best for protecting a wooden or marble countertop under a hot appliance; pick this if you want a 17.5 x 13.5-inch silicone-and-fiberglass barrier rated for extreme heat.
• juntianze 2 — best for pulling hot trays and racks out safely; pick this if you want a two-pack of ergonomic grab tools with hanging holes for tidy storage.
This is a 2-quart basket air fryer from Instant Pot, the brand behind the electric pressure cooker most people already know. It runs on 1300 watts and offers four functions: air fry, bake, roast and reheat. The headline feature is EvenCrisp technology, which pushes hot air from the top down so food finishes golden and crisp instead of pale and steamed. In daily use that means frozen fries, chicken wings and roasted vegetables come out with actual texture rather than the soggy middle you get from a weak airflow design.
The temperature range is the part I'd pay attention to. It spans 120°F to 400°F, so you're not locked into frying — you can bake cookies or cinnamon buns at the lower end and blast wings or garlicky potatoes at the top. There's little to no preheating time, which matters more than it sounds: on a weeknight, going from frozen to golden in minutes is the whole reason to own one of these. The one-touch smart programs cover wings, roasted veggies, garlicky potatoes, cookies and cinnamon buns, so you're not guessing at settings while you're hungry.
The 2-quart capacity is the honest trade-off. Instant Pot positions this for 1–2 servings, and that's exactly right. A couple can do a side dish or a single-person dinner comfortably, but a family of four trying to cook a full meal in one batch will be disappointed. The controls are touch-based, and the unit works with the free Instant Brands Connect app on iOS and Android, which holds over 100 recipes — genuinely useful if you're new to air frying and don't know where to start.
Cleanup is a strong point. The non-stick basket and tray are dishwasher safe, so the worst part of air frying (grease and stuck-on residue) is largely handled for you. The body is plastic, and it's red, measuring roughly 11.26 x 9.02 x 11.73 inches and weighing 7.3 pounds — small enough to live on the counter or tuck into a cabinet without a fight.
Who is it for? In my opinion, this is the pick for a single person, a couple, a dorm or a small apartment where counter space is tight and you want one appliance that fries, bakes, roasts and reheats. The trade-off is capacity and nothing else: if you regularly cook for three or more, size up. If you cook for one or two, the 2QT's compactness is a feature, not a flaw.
Linda's Essentials Reusable Round Silicone
What makes these worth a look over parchment is the perforated design. Parchment sheets are single-use, can burn, and you have to keep buying them. These liners are reusable and the holes let air circulate, which matters because airflow is the entire mechanism behind air frying — a solid liner would turn your fryer into a steamer. They're rated to withstand temperatures up to 446°F and are made from BPA-free and PFOA-free materials. They also work in microwaves and convection ovens, which stretches the value beyond one appliance.
Practical details matter here. The 9-inch round size is designed to fit most air fryers and works in 4-quart units and larger; if your basket is smaller, you can trim them to fit. The pack includes three liners in red, green and blue, plus a bonus recipe ebook and a printable cheat sheet — nice extras if you're still building your air-frying repertoire. Each liner weighs 8.46 ounces total across the set, so they're substantial, not flimsy.
The trade-off is straightforward: these fit larger baskets best. If you own the 2-quart Vortex above, you'll be trimming a 9-inch round liner down to size, which is doable but not ideal. And if you're the type who likes food to sit directly on a crisper plate for maximum browning, a liner adds one layer between food and hot metal. In my opinion, that trade is worth it for anyone who hates scrubbing. If you cook messy things — wings, marinated proteins, anything with cheese — these pay for themselves in saved effort.
This one isn't about cooking at all; it's about what sits under your air fryer. The ImnBest mat is a 17.5 x 13.5-inch pad made of fiberglass coated in heat-resistant silicone, with finely stitched edges meant to prevent sticking, tearing and curling. It's rated to protect countertops from heat up to 500°C/982°F, which is well beyond anything a home air fryer, deep fryer or fondue pot will throw at it.
Why does that matter? Air fryers vent hot air, and they get hot underneath. On a wooden or marble countertop, that's a real risk over time — scorch marks and heat damage are the kind of thing you notice too late. A mat like this is cheap insurance. The size is generous enough to sit under a full-size air fryer, a coffee maker, a toaster or a stand mixer, and ImnBest lists it as fitting deep fryers, ovens, microwaves, juicers and cooking pots too.
Here's the honest trade-off. This is a protective accessory, not something that improves your cooking. If your air fryer lives on a heat-tolerant surface or you always move it to a trivet, you may not need it. And it's a single mat, so if you want to protect multiple stations, you'll need more than one. In my opinion, it's the right buy for anyone with a wooden butcher-block or marble counter who leaves an air fryer parked in one spot — that's exactly the person this product is designed for.
juntianze 2
This is the smallest and most modest item on the list: a two-pack of tray extractors, essentially grab tools for pulling hot baking sheets, oven trays and racks out of an air fryer or convection toaster oven. It's a simple idea — a clip with an ergonomic streamlined handle — but the design details are thought through.
The purpose is scald avoidance. Pulling a hot tray out of a toaster oven with your fingers or a dish towel is how people get burned, and air fryer baskets and trays get genuinely hot. The extractor lets you grip and lift the tray directly. The handle is shaped for a comfortable, secure grip, and juntianze claims both hands can easily lift even a heavy loaded baking sheet — which is the scenario where you'd otherwise be juggling a towel and hoping for the best.
The hanging hole at the end of each handle is a small but genuinely useful touch. These tools are long and awkward to store in a drawer; the hole lets you hang them on a hook, which keeps them reachable and out of the way. You get two in the pack, so you can keep one by the oven and one by the air fryer, or have a spare when one is in the dishwasher. The package measures roughly 10.12 x 4.02 x 1.54 inches and the pair weighs 3.87 ounces, so they're light.
The trade-off is that this is a niche tool. If you only ever use your air fryer's own pull-out basket, you may never need it. It earns its place if you also use a convection toaster oven, bake on trays, or regularly move hot racks and dishes around the kitchen. In my opinion, it's a sensible add-on for anyone who has already burned a knuckle once — and a pass for anyone who hasn't and won't.
How We Picked
We compared published specifications and features — capacity, temperature range, cooking functions, materials, heat ratings, dimensions and included accessories — for each product, then weighed what those specs mean for real kitchens and real cooking habits. The ranking reflects our independent editorial judgment about who each product suits, not any brand's input. No brand paid for placement or influenced the order of this list.
what is the best air fryer under $100
Based on the specs here, my top pick is the Instant Pot Vortex 2QT. It's the only full appliance on this list, combining four functions (air fry, bake, roast, reheat), EvenCrisp top-down airflow, a 120–400°F range, one-touch programs, a dishwasher-safe basket and app recipes. It's built for 1–2 servings, so size your expectations to your household.
Not strictly, but they help. A reusable liner like the Linda's Essentials silicone set keeps food from sticking and cuts cleanup, a heat-resistant mat like the ImnBest protects your countertop beneath the appliance, and a tray extractor like the juntianze 2 helps you pull hot trays safely. Each solves a specific annoyance rather than changing how the fryer cooks.
Match capacity to how many people you feed. The Vortex 2QT is a 2-quart unit that Instant Pot recommends for 1–2 servings — ideal for a single cook or a couple. Larger households should look for a bigger basket, since a small one means cooking in multiple batches.
The Linda's Essentials liners are made from BPA-free and PFOA-free materials and are rated heat resistant up to 446°F. They're designed with perforations so air still circulates around the food, and they're dishwasher safe for reuse. As with any accessory, keep it within its stated temperature rating.
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