As I sat down to write this product review, I realized that every year of the four years I’ve lived in my apartment, I’ve gone through a toaster oven air fryer. You read that right—I’ve gone through four toaster oven air fryers in four years. No, I’ve never accidentally set one on fire, blown it up, or dropkicked it. My problem is that I keep searching for a toaster oven that lives up to its promises.
I admit that I use my toaster oven air fryer constantly. I use my toaster oven to create dishes like Butter Chicken, Ratatouille, Keto-style bagels, baked fried chicken, and of course, toast. I may not be the world’s best home cook, but I enjoy trying out new recipes. My recent toaster oven had all the bells and whistles: French glass doors, roomy interior, air fried, baked, broiled, dehydrated, and was pretty. Unfortunately, I felt like I was playing roulette whenever I chose a temperature for a dish. Would it come out burnt, raw, fine, or half-cooked? Each meal was an adventure! This machine would bake something perfectly, and the next time I would cook the same thing, I’d have to cook it 30 minutes longer for the same result.
PowerXL SmartSynx Dual Door Air Fryer
Specs on the PowerXL SmartSync Dual Air Fryer
- Measurements: 16.09″Deep x 18.54″Width x 12.38″Height
- Temperature range: 85° to 450° degrees
- 360° supercharged hot air in both compartments to evenly cook food.
- Eight presets: Air fry, bake, broil, cook pizza, toast, warm, reheat, convection bake.
- Accessories: Bake pan, wire rack, two air frying baskets, and crumb trays.
- LED digital display.
- Can Sync food cooking times.
- Material: Stainless steel
Why Use a Toaster Oven Air Fryer instead of an Oven?
There are many reasons to rely on a toaster oven combination air fryer and broiler over using a stove.
- Energy efficiency: Most toaster oven combinations use less electricity than full-sized ones.
- Speed: Toaster oven air fryer broilers heat up faster than a traditional oven and cook faster.
- Versatility: new toaster ovens can air fry, bake, broil, toast, be used as a convection oven, and even dehydrate foods.
- Precise temperature control: most ovens’ temperature controls vary, while the design of most toaster oven air fryer combinations’ temperature controls is more exacting.
- Comfort: A working stove can raise the room’s temperature, while the smaller toaster oven air fryer doesn’t affect ambient air temperature.
I rely on a smaller appliance rather than my oven because it has numerous issues. It doesn’t heat correctly; the broiler has left for a permanent vacation. It does nothing. When I informed my building’s super about the nonworking oven, I got a shoulder shrug instead of a replacement.
How I met the PowerXl Smart Sync Dual Door Air Fryer Overn
One morning, after having re-toast my toast, I checked my email and read a press release about the PowerXL Smart Synx Dual Door Air Fryer Oven in my inbox. Talk about synchronicity! The description intrigued me. The Power XL Smart Synx assists you in creating multiple dishes concurrently. Giddy with the thought of not having to cook food in shifts, I reached back to the public relations representative and asked them to send me one to try out.
What is the PowerXL Smart Synx Dual Door Air Fryer Oven
Have you ever been in a kitchen with two wall ovens? They’re pretty amazing. You can roast in one while you’re baking in the other. The PowerXL Smart Synx Dual Door Air Fryer is a shrunken version of the luxury two-wall oven combination. It conveniently sits atop a counter or baker’s rack.
You may be saying to yourself, “Really? You’re just hyping up a toaster oven.” Nah. I mean, yes, looks are deceiving. The PowerXL Smart Snync Dual Door Air Fryer does look like your typical toaster oven, down to its gleaming silver chassis. That’s where the comparison ends. Much like a full-size dual wall oven, you can use separate functions for each compartment.
Each oven or compartment has eight presets. Cooking temperatures range from 85 to 450 degrees. And here is where it gets really wild: Both compartments can be used at the same time. In fact, you can sync the cooking times so food is ready at the same time. When you create a multi-course meal using the PowerXL, staggering cooking times is a thing of the past.
The top compartment has three rack shelves, and the bottom compartment has two rack shelves. Using this appliance, you can air fry, toast, reheat, warm, broil, bake, cook pizza, and convection bake simultaneously in both compartments.
Unpacking the PowerXL SmartSync Dual Air Fryer
The PowerXL SmartSync Dual Air Fryer is carefully packaged to prevent damage during transport. Once you open the shipping box, you’re confronted with another box. Think of unpacking it like dealing with nesting dolls; one layer leads to another: Styrofoam, cardboard, and finally, plastic wrap. Each component, the air fryer, toaster oven, and racks, is covered and protected with various packing materials. When it’s completely unpacked, the device and its accessories gleam.
Follow the set-up and cleaning instructions in the manual. For me, this meant washing every tray and letting them air dry. Wipe the device inside and outside with a moist paper towel or cloth and mild dish detergent.
Before using it for the first time, preheat it for a few minutes to let the appliance burn off its protective coating of oil. This does have an odor, that thankfully dissipates quickly. After preheating it, turn it off and let it cool down. After it’s cooled down, wipe the device with warm, soapy water, rinse and let it dry. Now it’s ready to cook.
How to Use The PowerXL SmartSync Dual Air Fryer
PowerXL’s mini oven has touchscreen controls that is activated by pressing the control knob at the bottom of the screen. Once the knob is activated, the screen displays the upper and lower compartment options. Touch the compartment you plan on using, and you’ll see various cooking options. Select one and use the control knob to set the temperature you need to cook at. After choosing the temperature, lightly push the control knob, and then the cooking time displays. Rotate the knob to find the amount of time needed to cook, and then touch the start button.
The Toast Test
After unpacking and cleaning the PowerXL SmartSync Dual Door Air Fryer, I placed two slices of bread in the upper compartment. Using the oven’s touch screen, I set it to toast. Three minutes later, I opened the door to find two slices of bread that had been perfectly toasted on both sides.
Toasting bread may seem like a silly first task, but I’ve learned that if you want to see if your toaster oven can do its job, use its simplest function first. Depending on how the device toasts bread, you may have to adjust the other settings when broiling, baking, or cooking. For example, my old toaster oven would only toast bread on one side. And all its other functions failed as well.
Perfectly toasted bread signaled to me that everything else I cook in the PowerXL appliance will be perfectly cooked, too.
Cooking With the PowerXL SmartSync Dual Door Air Fryer
I leaned on the instruction manual when I decided to cook a full meal in the PowerXL SmartSync Dual Door Air Fryer. While it looks easy to use, there is a slight learning curve. It takes a few minutes, especially when it comes to syncing the cooking times, so don’t let that throw you. Once you figure it out, cooking is a breeze.
The PowerXL toaster oven air fryer is quieter than most of its type. So silent that I stood near it when it was working to make sure it was doing its job. That’s how quiet it is. Unlike most large toaster ovens and air fryer combos, this machine doesn’t throw a lot of heat into the room. It’s an almost silent cooking device that doesn’t turn your kitchen into a sauna.
My first meal was a disaster, but it was all my fault. After setting the temperature five to ten degrees higher on my old air fryer toaster oven, I would still run the risk of taking out uncooked proteins, which I would then have to cook for 30 more minutes. Unfortunately, I kept the same habit with the new device. I forgot the PowerXl has 360 degree supercharged hot air that cooks food faster. Needless to say, my first meal was very crispy.
I never made the same mistake again. Once I realized how precise the temperature settings are on the PowerXL, I followed all my recipes’ temperatures and cooking times. I have cooked plump, juicy oven-baked fried chicken, moist, tender salmon fillets, succulent steaks, and burgers with the PowerXl.
Pros and Cons
If you’re considering purchasing the PowerXL to add to your arsenal of kitchen appliances, here is a list of pros and cons.
Pros
- Manual is easy to understand.
- Ease of use.
- Extremely quiet when in use.
- Both compartment can be programmed for different cooking needs and use them simultaneously.
- Does not heat up the room.
- Easy to clean.
- Precise temperature.
- Perfect toast.
- Top compartment has room for a 12” pizza.
- Bottom compartment can hold and cook a one pound bag of fries.
- 360 degrees of supercharged hot air circulates in both ovens.
- Separate compartments are designed not to let flavor crossover occur when cooking with both ovens.
- You can air fry, reheat, warm, bake, broil, convection bake, toast, and make pizza in one device. Pizza is recommended for the top oven only.
- Doors drop down when open.
Cons
- If you’ve never used a touch screen with multiple options, creates a learning curve.
- No interior light in either compartment.
- A bit difficult to understand and use the smart sync option.
- Would prefer it if the compartments were a bit deeper in width.
- A little pricey when not on sale.
PowerXL SmartSynx Dual Door Air Fryer
In My Expert Opinion
I’m really pleased with the PowerXL SmartSync Dual Air Fryer. I enjoy the ability to cook two different things at the same time. Everything that I cook in it comes out perfectly cooked. Yes, I had a slight learning curve, as I’d never used a kitchen appliance whose touch screen was complicated. As I mentioned earlier, once I figured out how to use this appliance, everything I cooked in it came out the way it was supposed to: evenly cooked and yummy.
