I tried double-decker air fryer, and I'm not convinced

Dimensions: 14.1 x 18.2 x 17.7 inches
Weight: 20.17 pounds
Total Capacity: 11 quarts; 6-quart upper, 5-quart lower
Power: 1,700 watts
Settings: Air fry, grill, dehydrate, bake, roast, broil, reheat and toast
Warranty: 1 year

If you’ve ever wanted to cook chicken wings and French fries in your air fryer simultaneously, a dual-zone model like the new Midea Two-Zone Air Fryer might be just what you need. This model has an impressive total capacity of 11 quarts, and it’s split into two stacked cooking areas that can be controlled separately—perfect for cooking different foods at the same time.

While many two-zone air fryers are quite wide, taking up a lot of counter space, this model from Midea has a smaller footprint thanks to its vertical design, which is stylish and modern. It has eight cooking functions to choose from, and there’s even a setting that automatically syncs up cooking in the two zones to ensure they finish at the same time.

To see how this new dual-zone model compares to the best air fryers available today, I tested it in my kitchen for two weeks. Here’s what I liked about the sleek unit—and a few things I wish were included in the design.

Midea 11-Quart Two-Zone Air Fryer review: Price and availability

The new Midea 11-Quart Two-Zone Air Fryer is available from most major retailers, but the price may vary depending on where you buy it. It’s listed with an MSRP of $159 on the brand’s website , but it retails for around $180 on Amazon and as high as $240 from Wayfair .

Midea 11-Quart Two-Zone Air Fryer review: Design

My first impression of the Midea Two-Zone Air Fryer was that it has a surprisingly sleek design. The top of the appliance has a smooth black glass panel with a single control dial in the middle, and there are two cooking compartments—a pull-out 6-quart basket on top and a shorter 5-quart area on the bottom with a door that hinges open. The unit comes with a crumb tray, metal rack and baking tray for the lower compartment, as well as a crisper plate for the upper basket.

When you turn the appliance on, it allows you to program the two zones separately, setting them to different temperatures or cook times. The air fryer has eight settings that you can use in either compartment, including air fry, grill, dehydrate, bake, roast, broil, reheat, and toast, and if you’re cooking in both compartments simultaneously, the “sync finish” button will make both zones finish cooking at the same time. The air fryer’s temperature can be set between 105 and 450 degrees, and its max timer length is 12 hours—useful for long dehydration recipes.

One of the things I liked the most about this air fryer is that it doesn’t take up nearly as much room as other two-zone models. I’ve tested dual-zone air fryers that are 16 inches wide or larger, but this model takes up the same amount of counter space as a standard one-zone unit. It is a little taller than other air fryers, though—something to keep in mind if you plan to stash it underneath a row of upper kitchen cabinets.

Midea 11-Quart Two-Zone Air Fryer review: Performance

I tested the Midea 11-Quart Two-Zone Air Fryer in my kitchen for two weeks, using it to cook several different foods. Here’s how it performed with each task.

Making French fries

Whenever I test an air fryer, one of the first recipes I make is French fries. For this test, I sliced two medium-sized russet potatoes into uniform strips and seasoned them with a little olive oil and salt. This amount of fries fit perfectly into the air fryer’s upper cooking compartment, which has a classic basket-style design. The pieces overlapped a little bit, but not so much that it would prevent them from cooking properly.

The air fryer came with a cooking guide that lists temperatures and cook times for common foods, but it only had suggestions for frozen French fries. I was also surprised to find that there were no one-touch cooking settings on the appliance, nor are there buttons for a preheat cycle or shake alarm. These tend to be standard features on most of today’s air fryers, and it seems like an oversight that they weren’t included.

I ended up cooking the homemade French fries for 18 minutes at 400 degrees. An alarm did sound halfway through the cycle, reminding me to shake the fries—while I’m glad this feature is included, I quickly discovered that there’s no way to turn it off, so it will sound every time you use the appliance. The air fryer also has a button that lets you turn on a light inside the cooking chambers, but the front window is tinted too dark to see anything that’s going on inside.

Despite these hiccups, the French fries cooked beautifully. They were perfectly brown and crispy on the outside and tender inside, and they made a great side dish for a weeknight dinner.

Broiling meatballs

To test out the air fryer’s bottom compartment, I used it to broil meatballs. I like to brown meatballs before putting them into sauce, and I figured this would be a good way to test the lower cooking zone, which is set up like an oven. It has a shallow nonstick pan that slides into the compartment, and I was able to fit more than a dozen meatballs onto the tray. (It’s worth noting that you have to use this tray when cooking in the lower compartment, as no standard-size baking tray will fit.)

To brown the exterior of the meatballs, I selected the broil setting, which automatically defaults to 450 degrees—as high as the air fryer goes. I let the lower chamber heat up for five minutes before I put the meatballs in. (Again, I wish there was a preheat setting to make this process easier.) Once the meatballs were cooking, I checked on them after about five minutes, and they weren’t browned at all. I expected the compartment’s upper heat element to be on while broiling, but the lower element was on instead.

I let it cook for another five minutes, then flipped the meatballs over. The bottoms of some were beginning to brown, but the ones toward the middle of the pan still barely had any color. I put the meatballs in to cook for another 10 minutes, but they had only a small amount of color. At this point, I was tired of waiting around, so I decided to just transfer the meat into my sauce to finish cooking. This test proved to be quite disappointing and time-consuming, as my regular oven would have delivered a nice brown sear in just a few minutes.

Cooking chicken parmesan

For an easy dinner, I decided to cook chicken parmesan in the Midea air fryer. I set the top basket to 400 degrees and cooked my breaded chicken for 15 minutes, flipping halfway through. Because it was a large piece of chicken pounded flat, it took up most of the upper basket—I wouldn’t have been able to cook a second piece at the same time.

The chicken came out perfectly crispy and nicely cooked inside. In fact, I probably could have taken it out a few minutes sooner, as the cheese on top was slightly overcooked. However, it made for a quick and easy weeknight meal, and I actually liked it better than chicken parmesan cooked in the oven.

Baking cookies

I wanted to test out the Midea’s lower compartment again on a different setting, so I used it to bake chocolate chip cookies. I used pre-made miniature cookie dough balls from Nestle, and I followed the directions on the package, baking them at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. I made a total of five cookies, but because the cookies are bite-sized, I easily could have fit twice as many on the tray.

After 10 minutes, I removed the tray using an oven mitt, and the cookies were a tiny bit overcooked. If they had been left in for even a minute longer, they probably would have burned, and again, the ones towards the sides of the tray were darker in color than the ones in the middle. Still, the cookies tasted delicious and were a quick and easy snack, and this test turned out better than the meatballs. I think part of the problem with the meatballs was that they were so closely packed together on the tray, so I’d recommend giving your food plenty of space when cooking in the lower compartment.

Cleaning

Cleaning is another area where the Midea Two-Zone Air Fryer falls flat. Most of today’s best air fryers have dishwasher-safe components, including their baskets, crisper plates, and other accessories, but unfortunately for those of us who hate doing the dishes, everything on the Midea has to be washed by hand.

According to the manual, the basket, the crisper plate, and nonstick cooking tray should be washed by hand in warm, soapy water after each use. Because they have a nonstick finish, any lingering residue comes off fairly easily, but it did take some scrubbing to get the pan clean after cooking the meatballs.

Midea 11-Quart Two-Zone Air Fryer review: Comparison

If you’re specifically in the market for a two-zone air fryer, there are a few other models you may want to consider. The Ninja DZ201 Foodi DualZone Air Fryer is a popular side-by-side model with two 4-quart cooking baskets that can be programmed individually, and it also has a setting that automatically adjusts the cooking times so the baskets finish simultaneously. It has six cooking functions, but similar to the Midea, there are no one-touch cooking settings. This model retails for around $200.

For smaller kitchens, the Ninja SL401 DoubleStack XL has a similar design to the Midea, featuring two 5-quart baskets on top of one another. It also comes with removable racks for each basket that let you cook even more food at once. It offers a total of six cooking functions, but it is more expensive than other models, retailing for around $230.

Midea 11-Quart Two-Zone Air Fryer review: Verdict

The new Midea 11-Quart Two-Zone Air Fryer has a sleek design that features two cooking zones, allowing you to cook more foods simultaneously. I was impressed by the upper basket’s crisping abilities, but the lower cooking zone did take a bit more finessing to get right.

All the food I made in the air fryer was well-cooked thanks to its high power, but there were a few small things I didn’t love about this appliance. For one, all the pieces must be washed by hand, making maintenance more of a chore, and it also doesn’t have any one-touch cooking settings or a preheat function like other popular models. Still, if you don’t mind cleaning it by hand, it’s a reasonably priced option that provides lots of cooking space and will help you make delicious, crispy foods.