Is this the device that will spell the end of the oven?

We love our air fryers. According to a new survey conducted for BBC Good Food Nation, they’re now the third most-used cooking gadget in the kitchen, after toasters and microwaves, and ahead of conventional ovens. Electric kettles, arguably the most-used appliance, aren’t included because they technically don’t boil water – though Pot Noodle lovers might disagree.

Now there’s a tiny – very tiny – challenger, promising to do the job of both oven and air fryer, and do a little roasting too. Will it take the Aga that long? Is the stove craze over? These Goliaths have been dominating our kitchens for decades, or at least the dream kitchens of glossy magazines and showrooms.

This new generation of chic, small ovens has hit the market amid a flurry of publicity. The Wonder Oven is all over social media, in a carefully curated selection of hues that don’t clash with the Farrow & Ball kitchen colour scheme. And then there’s the Smeg 10-in-1 countertop oven, with its delightfully ’50s curves that are as covetable as the brand’s iconic fridge. Stylish, to be sure: these gadgets are meant to be displayed like status symbols, like a Dualit toaster or an Aarke carbonator. If Agas are parked in the kitchen like a Bentley in the driveway, one of these little ovens is a baby Birkin bag on the counter.

Whether they actually do their job seems a bit secondary. Functionality isn’t important, Instagram likes are. Although they certainly have functions. These new oven-air fryer amalgams promise to cook faster – and more economically – than an oven and reheat better than a microwave. They can also bake, roast, grill, toast, steam and air fry.

Yes, they’ve tapped into the air fryer trend that’s been going strong for the past few years, much to the surprise of bored food writers like me who are naturally cynical about yet another big appliance, especially one that’s essentially a small, powerful convection oven and doesn’t actually fry. Sure, air fryers make pretty good chips, but they’re oven chips, and that’s not the same as the deep-fried kind.

Still, air fryers are energy-efficient, and a sharp rise in electricity prices in 2022, combined with a cost crisis and heightened concerns about climate change, meant the stars aligned for manufacturers. They’re now so ubiquitous that you can find air fryer instructions on everything from fish sticks to frozen croissants.

The new combination ovens go one step further and aim to do everything your conventional oven can do – but at a price. While a conventional air fryer can be bought for less than a family’s worth of fish and chips, these little wonders cost anywhere from a few hundred to over eight hundred pounds. Could I actually cook a dinner party in one? I tried.

When it comes to the Wonder Oven, that would be a pretty small dinner. The entire oven is about half the size of a microwave and looks like it belongs in a playgroup, complete with clicking analog dials and a ticking timer that pings. It’s noisy, hums like an extractor fan, and there’s no light to tell you when it’s up to temperature (the manual recommends two minutes, regardless of power level), so it’s definitely the fingers-crossing school of cooking.

Surprisingly, given its size, you can cook a 2kg chicken in it (I tried it and it did an impressive job, despite the heating element skimming the top, so it was lucky the recipe only called for bottom heat). So technically you can feed up to eight not-too-hungry people with it, but that’s only with lots of side dishes. Even if you roast a batch of potatoes while the meat rests, it’s only enough for four – you should be able to cook on two levels at once, but the results were (literally) spotty when I tried. Mind you, the roast potatoes are ready in an impressive 15-20 minutes, so you can cram another batch in before serving and offer a second helping, although it’s hardly a recipe for a leisurely evening.

So it was dinner for four: half a leg of lamb with harissa and aubergine; za’atar potatoes, plus a nectarine and cardamom upside-down tart. And if the homemade bread was a little heavy – the steam function is a puff of just two teaspoons of water added to the reservoir – there were no complaints.

The Smeg was a much more grown-up affair, as it should be for four times the price. It has complex digital controls and temperature indicators, as well as preset programs. It could handle a whole leg of lamb and the menu for eight people – we could have used more potatoes, but that’s always the truth. The steam function is real, making the homemade loaf 50 percent bigger than the Wonder Oven version. But it’s big: this is going to take up your countertop space. And the results weren’t as even as I’d like, so you’ll want to rotate the trays during baking.

Could I do without a big oven? I have to grudgingly admit that I probably could – most of the time. The Wonder Oven is strictly for couples and singles, the Smeg is suitable for a small family. Less energy-hungry than conventional ovens, both plug into a normal wall socket and don’t require builders to install. They’re quick and relatively cheap to run, but not suitable for anything remotely ambitious, plus you’d never be able to fit a decent turkey in them. My Goliath range is safe from David for now.

Wonder Oven 6-in-1 Airfryer and countertop oven with steam infusion

(Our place, £195)

Looks like

Wendy house chic

Mate

Minute. The chicken is touching the top of the oven.

Controls

Simple but inconvenient: it’s impossible to set the temperature accurately and the oven only works with the timer on, so it has to be reset every 60 minutes.

Visibility

The internal light makes everything easy to see. Compulsive looking.

Trays and accessories

Not dishwasher safe: that’s just annoying. The roasting pan is too shallow, so the chicken juices go everywhere.

Safety

The front and sides remain palpable, the back is hot and the bottom burns.

Annoying detail

The handle on the oven door prevents it from opening flat, making it difficult to remove the casserole dish without spilling any of the cooking juices.

Smeg 10-in-1 multifunctional countertop oven with steam and airfryer

(Smeg, £849.95)

Looks like

Doris Hello dear

Mate

About the size of a grill/semi-oven.

Controls

Krypton Factor of 10. Does anyone even use the preset “recipe” functions?

Visibility

Beautiful view.

Trays and accessories

The containers deform after just one use. The instructions say they return to their original shape when they cool down, but they don’t.

Safety

Warm but not burning sides and top. The base is hot.

Annoying detail

The instructions for the digital control are not clear enough.