How We Research
We compare products from their published specs and features; the verdicts below are our independent editorial opinions.
Updated: 2026-09-22 · 7 min read · Independent comparison
The SharkNinja IG651 is my top pick — it's the only one of these four that pairs a 500°F direct-heat grill grate with a smart thermometer, so it sears and air-fries with real temperature precision rather than guesswork.
• Café Couture Air Fryer — best for big-batch countertop oven cooking; pick this if you want WiFi voice control through Echo or Google Home plus 14 modes in a cavity that fits a 12" pizza.
• Instant Pot 6.5 — best for replacing several appliances at once; pick this if you want 13 functions, app-guided cooking, and pressure cooking and air frying from a single lid.
• Kalorik Air Fryer Pro — best for simple everyday air frying; pick this if you want a lightweight 6-quart basket fryer with touchscreen presets and dishwasher-safe parts.
This is a 7-in-1 indoor grill and griddle combo that happens to air fry very well. The headline is the independently powered grill grate, which reaches 500°F and heats edge to edge — that's direct contact heat, not just moving hot air around. A 12" flat-top BBQ griddle interlocks with the grate so it borrows that same high heat, which is why the temperature controls can hold steady without hot or cold spots.
The feature that actually makes it "smart" is the Foodi Smart Thermometer. You get four smart protein settings and nine customizable doneness levels, from rare to well. In practice that means you insert the probe, pick your target, and the machine handles the rest — no opening the lid to poke at a chicken breast. The hood-up or hood-down design matters too: hood down adds cyclonic air for crisping and melting, hood up gives you direct bottom heat for a hard sear.
Air frying here runs through the included 4-quart crisper basket, and SharkNinja states it produces crisp results with up to 75% less fat than deep frying, tested against hand-cut deep-fried French fries. The seven functions are Grill, BBQ Griddle, Air Crisp, Roast, Bake, Broil and Dehydrate.
Capacity is genuinely family-sized. The grate fits six steaks plus sides at once, and the griddle handles a whole platter of nachos, four sandwiches or six pancakes. The trade-off is bulk and weight — 27.5 pounds, roughly 17.4" wide and 15.7" deep. This is a dedicated countertop appliance, not something you tuck in a cupboard. In my opinion it's the pick for anyone who cooks proteins seriously and wants air frying as one skill in a wider toolkit rather than the whole point.
Café Couture Air Fryer
The cavity is the real selling point. It's 0.8 cu. ft. and takes a 12" pizza, a 9" x 13" cake pan or a 2-quart casserole dish — party-scale cooking, not single servings. Six heating elements do the work, enabling rapid preheating and even cooking, with a range that runs from proofing at 80°F up to air frying at 450°F.
Fourteen modes cover a lot of ground: Air Fry, CrispFinish, Bake, Broil, Roast, Toast, Bagel, Pizza, Cookies, Proof, Dehydrate, Slow Cook, Reheat and Keep Warm. It ships with a heavy-duty wire rack, baking tray, 12" pizza pan, air fry/dehydrate basket and crumb tray. The matte finish and tempered glass dropdown door give it a look that sits comfortably on an open counter.
The trade-off is that this is an oven first and an air fryer second. If you want a dedicated basket fryer for a quick batch of fries, a large oven cavity takes longer to come to temperature and takes up more room — it's about 18.6" wide, 17" deep and 14" tall, and weighs 28 pounds. There's also a limited 1-year warranty on the entire appliance. I'd recommend it for someone who wants one connected oven doing the work of several small appliances, especially if they already use a smart speaker ecosystem.
This is the appliance for people who want fewer things plugged in. It's a 13-in-1 pressure cooker and air fryer combo with a 6.5-quart capacity, and the trick is the lid: one lid switches between pressure cooking, air frying and the rest with no attachments to swap. That's the detail that separates it from older combo designs where you had to store and juggle separate lids.
The function list is long — pressure cook, air fry, slow cook, steam, sauté, roast, bake, broil, dehydrate, sous vide, make yogurt, proof bread and keep warm. Smart guided cooking runs through the Instant Connect app, which offers 2,000+ interactive recipes with step-by-step instructions, and you can monitor progress, adjust settings or switch functions from your phone in real time.
A few numbers worth knowing. EvenCrisp technology is rated for the same crunch with 95% less oil than traditional deep frying. The brand states cooking up to 70% faster compared to slow cooking methods. Steam release is handled from the control panel, and the large display gives a clear "OK to Open Lid" message so you're not guessing. The pressure cooking cover, air frying rack and cooking pot are all dishwasher safe.
Kalorik Air Fryer Pro
This is the straightforward option, and there's nothing wrong with that. It's a 6-quart oilless air fryer with five cooking functions and eight smart presets, run through easy touchscreen controls. Rapid Hot Air technology does the frying, with a maximum temperature setting of 400°F and 1700 watts of output.
For daily use, the specs translate to convenience. The 6-quart capacity is XL-sized, so it handles a family portion of fries or wings in one go. The nonstick basket and trivet are dishwasher safe, which matters more than most people expect — cleanup is the reason a lot of air fryers end up in a cupboard. There's an automatic shut-off, and the stainless steel body in gray is a neutral look that won't fight your other appliances.
It's also the lightest thing here by a wide margin at 13.2 pounds, which makes it the easiest to move, store or lift in and out of a cabinet. Recommended uses listed are bake, broil and roast.
What you give up is the smart layer. There's no app, no WiFi, no voice control and no probe — "smart" here means presets and a touchscreen, not connectivity. It also tops out at 400°F, below the searing heat of the SharkNinja. If you want to press a preset, walk away and come back to crispy food, this does that job without any setup or account creation. I'd recommend it for anyone who wants air frying to be simple, light and easy to clean rather than connected.
How We Picked
I compared published specifications and features across these four — cooking functions, capacity, smart connectivity, temperature range, included accessories and physical footprint — and ranked them on how those specs translate into everyday cooking. The order reflects my independent editorial opinion; no brand paid for placement or influenced the ranking.
what is the best smart air fryer
In my opinion the SharkNinja IG651 is the best overall because it combines a 500°F direct-heat grill grate with a Foodi Smart Thermometer offering 4 protein settings and 9 doneness levels. If you want full WiFi and app control instead, the Café Couture is the stronger fit.
how to use smart home air fryer
On the Café Couture, you connect through the SmartHQ app, then control modes by voice with Echo or Google Home or program time and temperature remotely. On the Instant Pot 6.5, you pair with the Instant Connect app for guided recipes and real-time monitoring, adjusting settings or switching functions from your phone.
what is the best smart oven air fryer
The Café Couture is the one here that's genuinely an oven with air frying built in — 14 modes, 6 heating elements, and a 0.8 cu. ft. cavity that fits a 12" pizza or a 9" x 13" cake pan, with WiFi control through the SmartHQ app.
what brand is best for air fryer
There's no single answer — it depends on what you cook. SharkNinja leads on searing and protein precision, Instant Pot on multi-function versatility with 13 cooking functions, Café on connected oven-style cooking, and Kalorik on simple, lightweight basket frying.
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