Great quality air fryer!

This air fryer was great, and I loved the digital display as I was using an old school air fryer without one before. It heated up quickly, and the presets were so convenient.

Not too bulky

Loved the paderno stainless steel non stick air fryer. It was great to use for warming up food. Due to non stick didn’t have to use too much oil. It’s a perfect size for a couple or smaller size family. The small size makes for great storage

Cooks well, but needs a few improvements.

Thank you Butterly, Paderno / Vida by Paderno for sending me a complimentary Paderno Stainless Steel 3.8L Non-Stick Air Fryer to test and review. I was very excited and appreciative to have been selected for this campaign!

This model of air fryer is sleek, modern-looking, and just the right size for a single person, student, or small family. I appreciate the square basket (as opposed to round), which makes it much easier to arrange food on the removable grill. Also, both the basket and grill are non-stick, so clean-up is a breeze! It is fairly quiet (not silent) when in use, and there are some interesting pre-sets and even a nice 'flip reminder function' that could be incredibly useful for some. I used the Air Fry mode to make frozen french fries, and the Bake mode to make a salmon fillet; both cooked beautifully so I cannot find fault with the quality of this air fryer itself.

HOWEVER,

Having used an air fryer before (different brand belonging to a family member), there are a couple of things that I found lacking in this particular model:

- My main issue is the lack of information, both on the unit itself and in the instruction manual. The digital panel is not very user/beginner-friendly and the manual is very vague. Yes, there are 8 extremely convenient pre-sets, but there are no descriptions as to their purpose or clear instructions as to when/how/why to use them. Instructions for the fries were included in the manual, but only my previous experience using the other air fryer gave me the knowledge of the proper setting/time/temperature to use when cooking my fresh salmon. In addition to the precise information printed in the manual, that air fryer has a ‘quick chart' of the different temperatures/cooking times for regularly-cooked of foods (i.e. meat, fish, poultry, potatoes) printed on the actual unit itself, and the Paderno model would benefit greatly by including such a simple feature (or providing a more comprehensive user manual).

- In addition to the standard Air Fry, Bake, Roast, etc. functions there is also Pizza and Dehydrate, however there are absolutely no included descriptions or instructions as to how these pre-sets work. In my opinion these are really interesting features, so why not tell us how to use them? Very disappointing.

- The beep when using the LED display is very loud and there is a beep for every time/temperature increment when setting up a cooking cycle. This gets pretty annoying very quickly but maybe I’m just more sensitive to these things. I prefer a noiseless dial, and a simple ding when the food is ready. You may feel differently.

All in all, I have no complaints whatsoever as to the quality of the unit itself or of the cooking achieved with this air fryer, I just feel that it is better suited/marketed towards simply reheating or making basic foods such as fries or chicken nuggets and the like. Maybe that is the main purpose of an air fryer, and I am being too picky; I don’t know. Anyway, if you can find it for less than $100 (which I have seen online), I would recommend it.