Air fryer vs microwave: kitchen essentials debate

Kitchen essentials: the air fryer fails to convince

How many of your kitchen gadgets have you plugged in this past year? This question hides a domestic debate with more depth than it appears: what deserves permanent counter space and what is just dead weight. The trigger is the air fryer, defended by some as a pocket convection oven and dismissed by others as an expensive clutter. The discussion shifts to basics: the microwave, pressure cooker, knives, and even kitchen square footage. If you are looking for what is essential in the kitchen, there is no single list. There are two schools of thought.

Air fryer: €55 to compete with the oven

The current star appliance generates the most division. Those who use it, use it often: meats, roasted oily fish like mackerel, horse mackerel, or sardines, tempura vegetables, ribs, and even fried potatoes. The price is not a deterrent either: according to one forum user, it can be found for €55, or €89 if you want the dual-basket version. At that cost, the argument for amortizing it loses steam.

Opposing this is the physical argument. Some maintain that a multifunction oven does the same or better, and that the air fryer is merely an attempt to replace a large oven with a small device that, admittedly, permanently eats up counter space. Others add a fundamental criticism: it encourages reliance on pre-cooked foods. And one specific limitation settles the debate for some: it cannot fry croquettes.

The scary pressure cooker and the undisputed microwave

If the air fryer divides opinion, so does the pressure cooker. Some admit without hesitation that they are afraid of it and prefer not to use it. Against this wariness, others argue the opposite: food tastes better cooked in the express pot than quickly. It is a domestic classic: the same appliance considered mandatory by some commands respect from others.

The microwave, however, finds little opposition. The most cited experience is that of someone who spent months without one away from home: reheating anything, especially on gas, becomes a daily nuisance. There is also a curious hierarchy: for reheating certain dishes, like Spanish tortilla (potato omelette), some prefer doing it over fire rather than in the microwave.

Knives, pans, and cookware: common ground

Where almost everyone agrees is on the boring stuff. Good knives—at least one large and one small—stainless steel cookware with glass lids, quality non-stick pans, and utensils that do not scratch: wood, bamboo, silicone. Cutting boards, preferably marble rather than plastic or wood, arguing that the latter accumulate microbes. Bowls of various sizes. A powerful blender, ideally a jug model.

Some lists serve as templates: ceramic hob with two burners, microwave with grill function, two pressure cookers—one of 6 liters and another of 10 with a shared lid—a large saucepan, and three pans of 30, 26, and 22 centimeters. Added to this are a colander, a manual meat grinder, refrigerator, and dishwasher. As extras, a freezer and perhaps a mini-oven.

The wok, gas, and the eternal induction dilemma

Among utensils with fervent defenders appears the wok. The advantage lies not in shape but depth: it holds more food, requires less chopping, and prevents spillage when tossing. Daily users consider it one of their most profitable pans; occasional sautéers do not find it worth the investment.

Behind this looms another fight: gas versus induction. Some cook with gas and consider it far superior. Others reply that, except in restaurants, gas is dirty for a home and that food tastes just as good with induction. No one yields.

The true essential: space and good food

The answer to what is essential increasingly relies less on appliances and more on square meters. A spacious kitchen, multiple counters, space beside a double-basin sink, and room to organize without stacking pots. The true essential is surface area. Some summarize it bluntly: nothing is worse than a small kitchen.

The complaint points to a limit no appliance solves: no matter how good the tools are, if there is nowhere to put them, they are superfluous.

Opposing this is the "less is more" trend: fewer gadgets, more money for good ingredients. The idea is that with two bowls, two plates, and one pan, you can cook almost everything if the produce is high-quality. And an ironic solution for those who do not want complications: the only essential is having food, and for the rest, a large cupboard to store snack bags suffices.

Part of the responses settled the issue with an age-old cliché: what matters is who cooks, not with what. Little wit and less substance.

With this distribution of opinions, the perfect list does not exist: each kitchen ends up being an inventory of what its owner actually uses. For now, the oven continues to house the frying pans.