The air fryer on the counter was still warm when Emma pushed it aside to plug in her new toy. It was a squat, brushed-steel box with a glass door and a control panel that looked suspiciously like the cockpit of a small plane. Her kids hovered nearby, half curious, half skeptical: “Is that… another fryer, Mum?” She laughed, tossed in a tray of vegetables next to a small chicken, tapped a few buttons and shut the door. No oil spray, no extra pan on the stove, no juggling oven timings. Just one humming machine lighting up the kitchen like a tiny restaurant. Ten minutes later, the smell didn’t say “fried”. It said roast, grill, bake, toast, reheat, dehydrate. It said: this thing might actually replace half the cupboard.
Sometimes, a gadget quietly rewrites the rules while we’re still defending the old ones.
From one-trick fryer to 9-in-1 kitchen workhorse
Let’s be honest: the air fryer had its golden era. It felt like everyone was proudly showing off their perfectly crisp potatoes and “healthy” nuggets on social media. Then came the dark side: giant baskets hogging space, uneven cooking, that burnt-on crumb layer nobody really wanted to scrub. The new generation of multicookers is arriving with a different promise. Same hot air technology for crunch, but fused with smart heating zones, steam, slow-cook and even grill plates built into the same machine. Suddenly you’re not just frying with hot air, you’re managing a whole dinner service from one plug socket.
Walk into any mid-range appliance store right now and you’ll see them lined up under names like “air oven”, “smart multicooker” or “9-in-1 countertop chef”. One model claims nine modes: air fry, bake, roast, grill, steam, slow cook, sauté, dehydrate, and reheat. Another adds proofing for bread and yogurt. A salesman in London recently told me these units are outselling classic basket air fryers two to one on weekends. People don’t just want snacks anymore. They want a device that can roast Sunday chicken, steam Tuesday dumplings, and dehydrate fruit for school snacks, without using three different gadgets and the main oven.
The logic behind this shift is brutally simple. Counter space is precious, energy costs are climbing, and nobody dreams of preheating a big oven for a single tray of vegetables. A multicooker-oven hybrid uses intense, focused heat, fans and often dual heating elements to mimic a traditional oven faster and with less power. Add controlled steam and low-temperature modes, and the same box becomes a slow cooker or bread proofer. This is why so many people who once swore by their air fryer are quietly sliding it into a storage cupboard. *Why keep a specialist around when a generalist does nine jobs surprisingly well?*
How to actually use those 9 modes without getting overwhelmed
The best way to approach a 9-in-1 gadget is to treat it like a smart mini-oven, not a magic box. Start with two or three modes you already understand: roast, bake, and air fry. Use roast for whole pieces of meat and sheet-pan dinners. Use bake for cakes, lasagna, gratins. Keep air fry for fries, breaded fish, and anything you’d normally deep-fry or oven-fry. As you gain confidence, sneak in a new mode once a week. Steam broccoli next to salmon. Try dehydrate for leftover strawberries. Use reheat instead of your microwave for pizza so the base comes back crisp instead of soggy.
Most people unpack these gadgets, scroll the presets and then fall back into two habits: fries and frozen food. We’ve all been there, that moment when a promising appliance slowly turns into an expensive nugget heater. The trick is to tie modes to real-life problems. No time to stir a pot for two hours? That’s where slow cook comes in. Want crispy skin on chicken but juicy meat? Combine steam and roast, or start with low heat then finish with a short air fry blast. Life is messy, and dinners often are too. The more you connect each mode to a specific everyday hassle, the less the control panel looks like a science experiment.
One Paris-based home cook I spoke to summed it up simply: “My air fryer was fun. This thing is practical. I can throw in vegetables, a protein, press two buttons and walk away. That’s not a gadget, that’s survival on busy nights.”
- Air fry: Best for fries, breaded items, small vegetables and reheated “crunchy” leftovers.
- Roast: Whole chicken, large cuts of meat, tray-bake vegetables, crispy tofu.
- Bake: Cakes, muffins, lasagna, gratins, baked oats on weekday mornings.
- Grill: Quick seared halloumi, charred peppers, thin steaks, open-faced sandwiches.
- Steam: Fish fillets, dumplings, reheating rice without drying it out.
- Slow cook: Tough cuts of meat, stews, pulled pork or shredded jackfruit.
- Sauté: Onions, garlic, curry bases, quick pan sauces using the same pot.
- Dehydrate: Apple chips, herb drying, leftover citrus slices for drinks.
- Reheat: Leftover pizza, roasted vegetables, pastry that deserves a second life.
Why this shift could quietly change the way we cook at home
Once a 9-in-1 box lands on the countertop, something subtle often happens: the big oven door stays closed more days of the week. Energy meters in households that track usage often show a dip when people switch from traditional oven cooking to compact, fan-powered units. Not because they suddenly eat less, but because they heat less empty air. They cook one-pan meals on a smaller stage. Suddenly, roasting a single sweet potato at lunch doesn’t feel like a luxury. Grilling two pieces of fish after work feels normal instead of like a project. That shift from “big production” cooking to small, frequent, easy cooking can change how often you say yes to a home-cooked meal.
There’s another side effect people don’t talk about much: creativity. When your main cooking tool heats up in three minutes, you’re more likely to experiment on a random Tuesday. A handful of chickpeas becomes crispy spiced snacks next to your laptop. A tray of sliced bananas and cinnamon becomes tomorrow’s yogurt topping. One pan of tomatoes, garlic and olive oil turns into a roasted sauce to freeze in portions. These are tiny gestures, yet they slowly move a kitchen from survival mode toward quiet pleasure. Plain truth: nobody really does this every single day. But even once or twice a week is enough to change the rhythm of mealtimes.
The air fryer helped people believe they could cook “better” with less oil and less effort. The new 9-in-1 generation goes a step further: it blurs the lines between weekday cooking and weekend comfort food. It won’t magically solve the question, “What’s for dinner?” It won’t chop vegetables or set the table. What it can do is remove friction: less preheating, fewer pans, fewer decisions about which appliance to use. That invisible friction is what often pushes us toward takeout apps and cereal-for-dinner nights. Whether this new gadget is a revolution or just a smarter box depends on what you ask of it, and how bravely you let it replace the old habits gathering dust around it.
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| Key point | Detail | Value for the reader |
|---|---|---|
| From fryer to 9-in-1 | Multicookers combine air fry, bake, roast, grill, steam, slow cook, sauté, dehydrate and reheat in one unit | Understand why they can realistically replace a classic air fryer and even the oven for many meals |
| Start simple | Begin with familiar modes (roast, bake, air fry), then add one new function per week | Reduces overwhelm and helps you actually use the full potential of the gadget |
| Everyday benefits | Faster preheating, lower energy use, fewer pans, more spontaneous cooking | Saves time and money while making home cooking feel lighter and more flexible |
FAQ:
- Is a 9-in-1 multicooker really better than a classic air fryer?For simple fries and nuggets, they’re equal. Once you start roasting, baking, steaming and reheating, the 9-in-1 wins because it replaces several devices at once.
- Can it fully replace my traditional oven?For singles, couples or small families, often yes for 80–90% of meals. For big roasts or multiple trays at once, the full-size oven still has a role.
- Does food still get as crispy as in a standard air fryer?Yes, as long as you don’t overcrowd the tray and you use the air fry or grill modes with proper airflow around the food.
- Is it complicated to clean a 9-in-1 compared with an air fryer?Most models use removable trays and liners that go in the dishwasher. The interior usually wipes down more easily than deep fryer-style baskets.
- Which 9 modes are the most useful in everyday life?For most people: air fry, roast, bake, reheat and steam cover the majority of meals, with slow cook and dehydrate as very nice bonuses when you have time.
Originally posted 2026-02-01 13:03:03.