Ninja DualZone XL 2-Basket Air Fryer, 10 Quart

7/18/23 For as much as I paid for this it kills me to give it away even after buying $$ accessories – racks and silicone dishes that fit it. This unit is basically working like a 3.5 qt air fryer bucket and not suiting my needs to the point that I may only use it once a week vs my 6 qt instant pot I was using5-6 days a week. Time to move on, considering Drew Barrymore has one like this but the bucket is separated by a wall, same match cook, smart finish features, can change cooking bucket size. Or considering replacing my microwave with a combo air fryer/microwave to save space.

Pros: The smart finish/ match cook work flawlessly. Controls are basic and easy for my husband to use. The vented tray doesn’t fall out all the time when turning bins over to empty them.

Cons: I went from a 8 qt Instant Pot AF to this because of the smart finish and match cook features, expecting a smaller bin because of the foot print in the description measurements. I didn’t catch that the baskets are VeRy narrow & more deep, those dimensions need to be noted on the item write up. I use mine to warm up canned goods, vegetables, mashed potatoes at the same time I am cooking the main as I don’t use a microwave. It doesn’t fit more than 2 chicken breasts / hamburger patties, 3 lasagna roll ups in each bin. That also defeats the smart finish feature because you have to use both bins to cook more than 2 items, so I still have to sit dinner in a warm oven to cook for just 2 of us. I would have preferred having a wider pan not deep/tall or a better interior design that doesn’t waste so much cooking area width. It’s a big item and I am totally great with that on my counter, however, an extra inch or 2 width on my counter wouldn’t matter as I don’t use a microwave and I cook a lot of home made not frozen convenience food in my AF’s. Friends with families have tested mine and found it too small and didn’t purchase as it wouldn’t speed up food item changeouts.

I am trying some of the accessory collapsible silicone pans and stack up baskets to get more practical use out of the deep bins, but after spending $150+ on this and now $30 more in accessories its pricey and inconvenient to store them when a bit better design may be more efficient for the amazing smart features.

It took us a while to decide on which airfyer to get but we finally decided on the 10qt duel basket Ninja. The biggest misnomer we kept reading is that this size is probably best suited for a family of 4+. We found this to not be very true at all. We are only two and we honestly wish sometimes there was third basket- space is king! Not sure how much difference there would be between the 10qt & the 8qt but the extra room will def not hurt. We have packed both baskets on several occasions and we feel like the extra space provided for a better cooking experience. You can obviously also fit more and large fryier so it’s easier to roast a small whole chicken or you will have more room to line separate pieces of fish in each basket. Even with the larger baskets you can only maybe lay flat to decent pieces of fish filet in each so if you’re planning on having more than one then this is the one to get.

Other than size we also like the fact the larger Ninja has a manual knob to chose between the different cooking option. You only use the digital screen for temp & time but n the larger each basket has it own screen as oppose to a shared on on the smaller 8qt. The fryer still has “smart finish” so your two baskets finish at the same time if set a different cooking times and “match cook” if you’re cooking the same in both baskets.

Over all we are very satisfied with this choice. It’s large enough for anything we want to cook, it’s so easty yo clean and has not stained at all in the first 2months of constant use (we don’t use parchment linings mostly because we think it effects the cooking/crisp of the food). It’s also way quitter then we expected \(after reading some negative reviews about nose). We have ours relatively close to a hood fan (not too close to the oven) so we usually turn that on while cooking and we honestly barely hear the thing while it’s on. The food comes out crispy and delicious (with some initial trial & error/practice). If you have read a million reviews already (like we have before purchasing) and you’re pretty much down the 10qt vs the 8 defiantly go with the 10qt, you will not regret the extra space even if it cost you few $$ more.

Being disabled is not easy to find an airy fryer to use. I found on this air fryer that the doors was light with or without food.

I am really impressed with this airfryer. I recently switched from the ninja foodi grill to this unit and although I miss my grill some days this unit serves me good as you can not only cook your meats but at the same time cook the other component of your meal on the other side so both things are done at the same time. The handy smart cook feature is brilliant. There us plenty of room in each basket and things come out perfect. I love how easy to clean the baskets and inserts are. I have yet to even have to scrub hard as they wipe out clean with soap, water and a dish cloth. Over all I’m impressed.

Bought for my daughter who loved it

I have always been fond of Ninja machines, I have almost all of their Foodi line. I decided to replace the grill-type “flat base” air fryer becuase I’ve had it for too many years and the heating element area was impossible to clean well.

I wanted to try this unit with the two large drawers. It met more than my expectations.

The Pros:

1) Extremely quiet! My previous machine was loud! This is barely audible on the scale of “kitchen noise”.
2) Not as smelly as my previous model. I suppose this may also be easier to clean.
3) The two separate large drawers in which you can cook different meals at the same time is an awesome plus!
4) Synchronized smart cooking is awesome! You can program the two drawers separately but to complete cooking cycle at the same time. Awesome!
5) The drawers are non-stick, which is an added benefit.

The Cons–only 1 so far:

1) The crisping plates that fit into the drawers needed serious oiling to be able to loosen them up and pull them out. I was hoping this would be just the first time after purchase, but after the first use I literally bent a knife and one of the crisper plates in the process of freeing it from the drawer! This shouldn’t be this tight! I used liquid detergent to help making the surfaces slippery but still got the knife I used to press it up bent.

Overall the system gets a 5* in every way.