As someone who cooks regularly for my family in a compact New York City apartment kitchen, I immediately recognized the convenience of the Midea Dual-Zone Air Fryer when I saw it at CES 2024. Its stacked oven design would let me cook two dishes at once, while conserving my much-needed countertop space – just what I need for a weeknight family meal.
Cooking features
The Midea Air Fryer features a dual-zone cavity, enabling simultaneous cooking of two different food types. This is an upgrade from traditional single-zone air fryers, offering greater variety without additional appliances. The top zone includes a 6-quart square basket, providing a larger cooking footprint compared to round baskets. The bottom zone houses a 5-quart tray, suitable for a 9-inch pizza, totaling 11 quarts of cooking space.
The upper zone serves as an air fryer, ideal for creating crisp textures, while the lower zone functions as an oven, appropriate for baking among other cooking methods. Together, the Midea offers ten cooking modes: Air Fry, Grill, Dehydrate, Bake, Roast, Broil, Toast, Bagel, and Keep Warm.
A distinctive feature of the Midea Air Fryer is the SYNC Finish function, ensuring that foods cooked at different temperatures and times in the two zones are ready simultaneously, resulting in perfectly timed meals.
All settings are adjustable directly on the unit, and an optional WiFi-connected app allows for programming, monitoring progress, and receiving alerts when meals are ready.
Design
By stacking the ovens, the air fryer is designed to save countertop space over side-by-side dual units, making it ideal for small kitchens (like mine) or for those who prefer a minimalist approach to their kitchen appliances. Measuring only 12.5 inches wide by 13.9 inches deep and 15.7 inches high, the dual-zone Air Fryer occupies less counter space than many single-zone ovens.
The overall design is sleek and modern, ensuring that it doesn't just perform well but also looks good on any countertop. Equipped with transparent windows on both drawers, the Midea Air Fryer allows you to monitor the progress of your food without opening the drawer, helping to maintain a consistent cooking temperature.
Wrapping it up
Of the many cooking appliances at CES, there were few I would select for my own kitchen. The Midea 10-in-1 Two-Zone Air Fryer Oven is one of those few. It's a versatile, space-efficient appliance designed for those passionate about cooking but limited by time and space. Whether you're cooking for one or a small family, this air fryer could be a crucial tool in your culinary collection.
The Midea 10-in-1 Two-Zone Air Fryer Oven (MSA11D9ABB) is available for purchase on midea.com for $179.99.
