Chefree AFW20 Review
A dual-basket air fryer with a unique spin
Verdict
The Chefree AFW20 is a handy dual 4L air fryer that lets you tackle multiple dishes at once. Combined with handy features like Sync Finish, a variety of cooking modes and a window to keep an eye on your food while it’s cooking, and you’ve got a tempting mid-range air fryer that’s over £100 cheaper than the Ninja-branded equivalent.
Pros
- Dual 4L baskets
- Sync Finish technology
- Window for checking on food
- Fast, efficient cooking
Cons
- Large, heavy design
- Handles get in the way of the windows
- Controls can be confusing to use
Key Features
- Cook multiple foods at onceWith two 4L baskets and Sync Finish technology, you can cook two different foods at different temperatures for different periods of time and have them finish simultaneously.
- Built-in windows and lightingSmall windows in each basket allow you to keep an eye on your food without interrupting the cook.
- Fast, efficient cookingThe AFW20, like most air fryers, delivers a faster cooking experience at a cheaper price compared to a conventional oven.
Introduction
The Chefree AFW20 is one of a growing breed of air fryers with a dual basket design, offering the ability to cook two different foods at different temperatures simultaneously.
It’s not the only air fryer on the market to do so, but the AFW20 offers a few rather unique features compared to much of the competition, including a window in each basket for you to check on your food without opening the basket and interrupting the cooking process. It’s essentially the most conventional oven-esque air fryer I’ve used to date, for better and for worse.
The AFW20 is also adept at cooking plenty of different types of food with 8 cooking modes to choose from, ranging from standard options like air fry and bake to more niche options like broil and dehydrate, and like most air fryers, it’s pretty damn fast to use too.
That said, does the £120 Chefree AFW20 do enough to tempt consumers from more established brands like Ninja? Well…
Design and features
- Dual 4L basket design
- Takes up a lot of space
- Very handy Sync Finish feature
The Chefree AFW20 won’t be winning any awards for style any time soon, with a largely black design with very little flare – you won’t find the shimmering accents of the Ninja Foodi Dual Zone here. It’s also a pretty large presence on the countertop, measuring in at a not-insignificant 380 x 315 x 505mm and 7.8kg.
As such, it’ll need a dedicated place on the countertop as it’s too large and heavy to conveniently pop into a cupboard when not in use. The plastic sides also mean it’ll have to steer clear of any nearby hobs, further reducing just where the AFW20 can live full-time.
Still, if your kitchen countertops are big enough, it’s doable – and there’s a good reason why it’s so large.
Unlike most air fryers, which offer a single basket, the Chefree AFW20 is one of a growing breed of dual-basket air fryers, boasting twin 4L baskets that can cook two separate dishes at once using different temperature settings and timings. This essentially doubles the potential output of the air fryer compared to its single-compartment brethren.
Within each basket is a crisper plate, which can sit either one-third or two-thirds of the way down depending on what you’re cooking – you can bring foods like sausages closer to the heat source when grilling for a better finish. A handy little touch is the addition of grippy silicone feet on both sides of the grill plate that helps it stay securely place, even if you’re tipping a basket of chips onto a plate.
The plates are fairly easy to clean with very little in the way of awkward nooks and crannies, and with a non-stick coating, most residue comes off easily.
One of the more interesting features of the Chefree AFW20 compared to most air fryers is the inclusion of windows, bringing its comparison to a full-blown oven closer than ever – especially when combined with in-basket lighting to give you a clearer look at your food.
It is a handy design feature that allows you to check on your food at a glance without interrupting the cook – though the handles do get in the way of the windows quite a bit, providing more of a sneak peek than a perfect vista.
Turn on the AFW20 with the tap of a button and you’re given the option to choose to use either the left or right basket, or both. Once you decide, the touchscreen controls get a little more complicated.
That’s because you’re presented with many buttons surrounding the central digital display. It was incredibly daunting initially, and it took me a few minutes to work out how to start the air fryer (the start button looks like an odd fast-forward button), but within a few uses, I’d gotten the hang of it.
The top row is reserved for all eight cooking modes: air fry, roast, air crisp, broil, bake, dehydrate, reheat and grill. Once you select one of the cooking modes, you’ll then be able to tap either L or R, depending on which basket you use and tweak your time and temperature settings using the up and down keys on either side.
There are also buttons to turn on each basket’s lighting, and the display in the middle shows both temperature and time settings for each basket individually.
One of the more interesting features of the touch interface is Sync Finish. As the name suggests, this allows you to individually set each basket’s mode, temperature and time and have them both finish simultaneously.
It may seem relatively simple, but the result is a less stressful experience when cooking different foods. You no longer need to rush back and forth to turn on each basket individually and trying to keep one food warm while the other finishes off is no longer an issue either.
Performance
- Eight cooking modes
- Just as capable with fresh foods as frozen goods
- Fast, efficient cook times
With eight cooking modes available, there’s practically an option for whatever you need, down to rather specific modes like Broil that’ll deliver top-down heating only to melt the cheese on your toast perfectly.
Of course, you don’t buy a huge air fryer to make cheese on toast, so let’s talk about more involved meals.
One of the best dishes I cooked with the AFW20 was honey mustard chicken thighs. After prepping the thighs and covering them with a nice blend of herbs, spices and sauce, I popped them into the air fryer — each basket held two medium-sized thighs without complaint, with enough room for plenty of air circulation.
The main benefit of an air fryer is cook speed, and that’s exemplified by the chicken thighs. I cooked them at 200℃, turned them after around 8 minutes, and 8 minutes later, they were perfectly cooked with a crisp, but not dry or burnt, coating. The only feature that would have improved the experience is a built-in thermometer for checking the internal temperature of the meat – something you’ll find on some premium air fryers.
The AFW20 tackles frozen food just as well. Cooking curly fries and turkey drummers (I was feeling nostalgic, don’t judge!) was really easy and a little faster than I expected, even at lower settings than the air fryer-specific instructions on the packaging suggested.
The curly fries were done in 12 minutes at just 170℃, while the turkey drummers came out perfectly golden in little over 16 minutes at 180℃ – a process made much easier by the aforementioned Sync Finish feature.
The reheat option also came in handy with some leftover Domino’s pizza, which went from cold to perfectly hot in just over 6 minutes at 170℃ in the air fryer without drying out the sweetcorn, chicken and meatball (yes, I know, what a mix) toppings.
It doesn’t get too warm on the lid, but even so, I’d not recommend leaving anything on there that could potentially burn or melt over longer periods of use. The bigger thing to worry about is the dual rear exhausts, which can put out quite a bit of hot air during use.
As such, it’s best not to use it up against a wall, and that might cause a problem for those with smaller countertops.
While the maximum 2400W draw at full capacity will see a drain of roughly 71p an hour on current electricity tariffs, that’s still much cheaper than a conventional oven, and more importantly, it’s not very often you’ll use the air fryer for that long.
With such efficient cook times in my experience, the only real exception would be dehydrating food, although it’s done at much lower temperatures and, as such, won’t draw anywhere near as much power.
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Should you buy it?
You want to cook multiple foods at once
With two 4L baskets to take advantage of, it has never been easier to cook two different foods at different temperatures.
You’ve got a small kitchen
The Chefree AFW20 is a capable air fryer, but it’s certainly not small or portable, taking up a sizeable amount of countertop space and weighing in at over 7KG.
Final Thoughts
The Chefree AWF20 serves not only as a great alternative to a conventional oven with faster cook times and less energy consumption, but it also has a leg-up on most of the air fryer competition.
The dual 4L basket design allows you to cook two different foods at different temperatures and even different cooking modes, at the same time, with a Sync Finish option removing the need to manually time your cook so all your food is ready at the same time.
It also has a few unique design quirks, like a built-in window and light that allows you to check on your food without opening the basket and interrupting the cooking process, though the placement of the handles does inhibit the view somewhat.
And, most importantly, it has a variety of cooking modes that deliver a well-rounded air-fryer experience, from cooking fresh meat like chicken thighs to frozen classics like turkey drummers and curly fries, and the reheat option is perfect for left-over pizza.
My only real complaint is the control system that, while easy to use once you know what you’re doing, can take a little while to adjust to at first.
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FAQs
It’s 8L, split across two 4L baskets.
At its maximum 2400W, it’ll cost around 71p an hour to run – though you’ll rarely, if ever, use it at maximum power for that long.
Full specs
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Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
