Sharp Double Drawer Air Fryer Review: Compact and Budget-Friendly

Two-drawer air fryers tend to be large appliances that take up a lot of counter space. But that doesn’t have to be the case. The Sharp Double Drawer Air Fryer has an 8L capacity, but thanks to its more square shape, it uses dead counter space at the front to provide more cooking capacity while using less shelf length. your counter.

At 37.5cm wide, it is over 10cm shorter than the Ninja FlexDrawer, although it is only a few centimeters shorter than the Ninja Foodi Max Dual Drawer, and both have a slightly larger capacity of 10 L.

Design and build

• Dishwasher safe drawers and trays
• Easy-access controls
• Touchscreen buttons require pressing

The air fryer is made of black plastic, with a glossy finish for the control panel and a matte finish for the body. Its dimensions are surprising: 37.5 cm wide, 36 cm deep and only 30 cm high, which means it will not dominate your counter. It sits against the wall and, despite its depth, leaves a decent sliding space in front. Its lower height means the control panel isn’t as close to the bottom of standard kitchen cabinets, which can be a problem with some air fryer models.

The control panel slopes from the top to about 11 inches from the bottom of the air fryer, so it’s easy to access, even for a short person. It is also easy to use. The panel itself has a reminder strip above it so you can easily reference which auto setting relates to which function: whether it’s fries, chicken, fish or pizza.

There are two digital panels that display the function you’ve chosen for a specific drawer, as well as the time and temperature settings, with a sync/dual button between them. Below each panel is a set of touchscreen buttons for selecting the different programs, time and drawer temperature. You need these buttons pressed – more than usual – which can throw you off a bit.

Below the control panel are the two 4L drawers, side by side. They have chunky handles with silver trim and a nice pull and click motion.

Inside the drawers are two non-stick, dishwasher-safe crispers. These trays, featuring a high quality smooth non-stick surface, feature stunning black rubber feet on each of the four corners, which appear to stand the test of time.

You also receive a manual and warranty. The manual is a little thin. Although it gives you an overview of the different functions, there will still be some trial and error.

The cable is not extremely long, so you will need to place the air fryer relatively close to a power outlet.

Performance and Features

• 12 predefined programs
• 8 cooking modes
• Dual sync capability

Setup is simple: set up the air fryer, wash the drawers and trays, then plug it in. We advise you to read the manual first as the commands are not entirely self-explanatory.

There are two ways to choose the drawer cooking function. You can use one of the presets via the auto menu or use the function button.

The automatic menu has twelve presets: fries, beef, vegetables, whole chicken, bacon, fish, potato, pizza, chicken nuggets, shrimp, snacks and grilled sandwich. Choose one and it will provide a set time and temperature. Then just press start to start the program. You can change the time and temperature of these presets if you want, although you can’t increase the cooking time by more than 30% to prevent food from burning.

You can also use the function button. You have the option to air fry, bake, roast, cook from frozen, dehydrate, keep warm, preheat or reheat. You choose one of these functions, then use the temperature/time button to choose heat and time, then just press start.

The central sync/dual button allows you to copy a setting from one drawer to another. Once you have set the function and time in the left drawer, you can then copy them to the right. However, if you start cooking, pressing the sync/dual button will allow both cooking functions in each drawer to finish at the same time.

There is a bit of a learning curve for the controls. We had trouble figuring out how to cancel a program after accidentally copying it from one drawer to another while trying to sync up the cooking end times.

We started by making a burger and fries in separate drawers, then toasting a burger bun. The fries were cooked on the A01 automatic menu and they were golden, crispy and hot. The burger was cooked in the open air at 180°C for 20 minutes, and the result was good: hot, juicy on the inside and crispy on the outside. We have synchronized the cooking times so that the programs finish together.

The bun was cooked on A12 for a toasted sandwich, but only for five minutes, and it came out golden and crispy.

Next, we cooked chicken legs and roasted potatoes: the chicken legs on A04 and the potatoes on A07. The chicken thighs were crispy and piping hot, and the potatoes were crispy, hot and soft inside, although we had to take them out before the end of cooking for the perfect result.

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

Alex Greenwood / Foundry

Next up was a grilled cheese sandwich on A12 – the result was crispy, the cheese very melted, and we thought we probably should have brought it out a little earlier.

We also cooked a single fillet of breaded cod in the air fryer at 180°C for 20 minutes, and the simple act of frying it, setting the program and only coming back when the beep was wonderful. The fish crumbs were crispy, the fish inside warm and not overcooked.

The cooking program stops automatically when you remove the drawer, then restarts when you replace it.

It must be said that cooking with the Sharp double drawer air fryer is easy and convenient. You can use one or both drawers for different foods and set them to finish cooking at the same time.

But there’s a price to pay for its compact design: capacity and flexibility. Each drawer only has a capacity of 4 liters and, unfortunately, that means you can’t put a typical supermarket garlic baguette in a drawer without cutting it in half. In a full 8L drawer, you may tend to store such a baguette by placing it diagonally.

Likewise, we found that you can only fit about five chicken thighs into a 4L drawer (or ten if you double up with the second drawer), so this is an air fryer for a household smaller or a busy household where meals must be prepared regularly in small quantities.

It’s also incredibly easy to clean. The non-stick coating of the drawers and trays, as well as their small size, make washing dishes much easier because cooking debris does not stick to the surface. We didn’t even bother putting them in the dishwasher.

Pricing and availability

If you can get by with a two-drawer air fryer with a lower capacity than the Ninja models, the Sharp model is a great buy. Although it has an RRP of £169.99, it’s available for much less. At the time of writing, Appliances Direct are offering it for just £99. It is also available from Robert Dyas for £122.99 and from Debenhams for £124.99.

The latest 10L dual zone Ninja Foodi Max (see our review) costs between £170 and £200, so the Sharp model is very good value for money. But, if you want to see how it compares to other air fryers we recommend, take a look at our roundup of the best air fryers, best Ninja air fryers, and, for more cooking capacity, the better air. fryer ovens.

Should you buy the Sharp Double Drawer Digital Air Fryer?

We really like the Sharp 8L Double Drawer Digital Air Fryer with Synchronized Finish. It’s a good price and suits the lifestyle of a smaller, busy household who doesn’t need an entire 8L drawer all the time, but may want to cook smaller meals or smaller meals with two types of food in different drawers. We also think this air fryer would be suitable for a single-occupancy household and wouldn’t overwhelm a small galley kitchen.

The only downside is that there will be some items that you may have trouble fitting into one of the drawers, but overall this is a very good air fryer that will be a good fit for a certain type cleaning.