How Long Does an Air Fryer Last? [MY REAL EXPERIENCE]

Welcome back to Air Fryer Bro, the place where we go all wobbly at the knees over air fryers 🙂 Today we are going to talk about a question that has been increasing in volume over recent years amongst those interested in air fryers…..how long will an air fryer last? How can my air fryer’s lifespan last longer? And when people ask a question in the air fryer community, we like to answer it 🙂

An air fryer can last anything from 6 months to 5 years depending on the quality of the model that you buy and the way you treat it. This is why research is essential before buying and taking home any air fryer. When all else fails, buy an air fryer with a good warranty!

Now lets dive into the finer details together….

My Personal Air Fryer History

I want to start by going over my own personal experiences with air fryers and how long the air fryers I have bought have lasted.

Long time readers will know that my air fryer life started by accident. My wife and I were in a furniture store (of all places) when we noticed a special offer on a funny looking deep fryer. That funny looking deep fryer turned out to actually be an air fryer!

Having bought this air fryer, it was used for a year before the non-stick coating on the air fryer’s basket started to peel and then the catch on the lid broke. Although I slightly prolonged this air fryers life by weighting down the lid with something heavy whilst turned on, this potentially dangerous solution led us to buying another air fryer. After all, we did love them in our household by then!!

This first air fryer had the brand “Telefonik” on it, but essentially turned out to be a generic Chinese brand air fryer. For our second purchase, my wife and I turned to the trusty brand of Philips to fulfill all our air frying needs.

This Philips air fryer is the one I currently use, although I am hoping to start getting other models in soon for review purposes. To be honest, I didn’t set in stone the purchase date of this air fryer, and I dare not ask my wife to search through her credit card receipts to get this date accurate (trust me, she’s busy!!). Let’s just say I have owned this Philips air fryer for around 5 years at this point!! Clearly this is an air fryer to last with a lifespan of that length! But why did this air fryer last longer?

Clearly, our second air fryer has proven to be of much higher quality than that generic Chinese model that we bought first. Yes, the first air fryer was much cheaper but clearly wasn’t up to the job in terms of quality. I have been really impressed with the Philips model. It has lasted well after 5 years of heavy use, and is still going strong. Bear in mind that, as the Air Fryer Bro, I have used this appliance practically daily!! Here are some of the latest photos below. Qualtiy is key when it comes to air fryer lifespan, in my opinion anyway.

As you can see, the bottom of the air fryer’s cooking compartment is still in great condition, with just a little non-stick coating coming off the top of the fins. As this is not in contact with food, this little bit of non-stick coating flaking doesn’t really bother me. Apologies for the less than perfectly clean appearance 🙂 Like I said, this gets used a lot in our household!! Non-stick coatings need to be able to take a lot of wear and tear, again pointing to the need for quality.

My wife and I opted for the extra option of the grill pan for our air fryer, and we are glad we did. We pretty much exclusively use this when cooking anything in our air fryer, leaving the original air fryer basket looking as good as new. Yes, there is a little bit of non-stick coating peel on the raised portion of the grill pan, but frankly not enough for me to worry about. And it is quite easy and inexpensive to simply buy another grill pan instead of replacing the whole air fryer.

The most important part of my Philips air fryer, the heating element, is still going strong at this point. No drop off in cook times at all at the time of writing. It just works every time, without fail.

For me, this Philips appliance has shown me that it is possible to buy a quality air fryer that can last for multiple years. It certainly restored my faith after that disaster of a first air fryer I bought 🙂

Top Tip: Check the Warranty of your new Air Fryer

In this article I talk a lot about how to buy a quality air fryer that will last. But as well as thinking how to make your air fryer last, you also want to make sure you are getting the support from the manufacturer of your air fryer. Carefully look into the duration the warranty on your new air fryer, carefully reading the clauses and requirements when it comes to replacing faulty air fryers or parts. Do you have to pay the shipping? etc. etc.

Others Experiences with Air Fryer Durability

For this section, I intend to look at air fryer reviews from users, to give an idea as to the longevity they are finding with their air fryers. I will take the top 3 air fryers (in terms of sales) on Amazon at the time of writing. By looking at their reviews, we can see how many talk about problems with durability. Whats are the common reasons for air fryer malfunction?

I will say, though, we must always take these reviews with a pinch of salt. We don’t know the background to these reviews, for all we know they may have done something themselves to cause issues with their air fryer. And remember as well, that most buyers don’t make reviews and people with problems are more likely to make reviews than those that are happy with the product, that’s just a part of human nature. Therefore, we can say that they aren’t an entirely accurate reflection of the whole buying group 🙂

If you want to see any of these reviews for yourself over at Amazon, simply click the product image.

Cosori Max XL Air fryer

Cosori have become immensely popular in the air frying market in the past few years, and here is the proof with one of their air fryers standing as the top seller on Amazon right now!

The question is, how many of these buyers had issues with durability? We can find out by looking at their reviews. Below you will find these piped straight over from Amazon.

On the whole, these seem to be a set of amazing reviews. I did manage to find one that stated it only lasted for 10 months and another that said 6 months. And a few others that stated that the air fryer draw won’t close properly. At the time of writing there was one particular review that was titled ‘quality issues’ and talked about the non-stick coating peeling after 6 months. Just be aware that for every negative review there are at least 10 that are positive 🙂 It’s hard to tell if problems arise from products with factory defects or if there are issues with the main product.

Ultrean 4 Quart Air Fryer

You may be surprised to see this weird sounding brand Ultrean as the second best selling air fryer on Amazon right now! Not me, as I found out in my recent roundup review of air fryers under $100, Ultrean are frankly killing it at this price level! But do they have quality issues? Let’s find out together!!

You now know what an Ultrean air fryer looks like, lets see how the reviews stack up!!!

It’s pretty much the same story here as with the Cosori model, most of the reviews are glowing and positive, with the odd negative one here or there. A handful talk about the poor non-stick coating on the accessories and say it peels off easily. A couple also say that their Ultrean model only lasted for 6 months or so. Scarily, one person said that running their Ultrean air fryer set off their carbon monoxide sensors, although this is something we can’t sure of with just one report.

Instant Vortex Air Fryer 4 in 1

Finally, lets look at the Instant Vortex air fryer. This time we are looking at a more well-known brand, being the creators of the ever popular instant pot for quite a while now! Will this more known brand do better with quality? Let’s find out!

It certainly looks nice, right? But will it live up to the hype? Lets find out by scanning the reviews together 🙂

Again, an excellent ocean of positive reviews with just a few negative ones thrown into the mix. For some reason, this air fryer has quite a few owners complaining about a plastic smell when using it. At the time of writing, there are some other quality issues mentioned but I would say it is not as much as the other two. The plastic smell problem seems to be the main one according to it’s users.

Why Don’t Some Air Fryers Last?

As you can see, it is not all a bed of roses when it comes to the bestselling air fryers on Amazon. These top 3 do still have a handful of issues related to longevity. These are the main reasons I can see for this.

The Current Culture in Kitchen Appliances

This is something I touched on in my recent article discussing which air fryers are made in the USA. Unfortunately, with the cheap cost of manufacturing small to medium size kitchen appliances in China, we are becoming a society that almost views these as cheap and disposable items.

You can now easily buy a selection of air fryers for under $100, but I see a trend where these cheaper products are often not long lasting or built with quality in mind. It is now almost considered normal for small to medium size appliances to be thrown away and replaced in a few short years.

Non-Stick Coating

Most of the problems I see around air fryer longevity and lifespan originate from the non-stick coating used on a lot of air fryers. Most are not built to last and will start peeling faster than most consumers would like. I suffered this myself with my first generic air fryer and to a much lesser extent on my current Philips air fryer. My hope for the air fryer market going forward is that the manufacturers somehow tackle this problem, so that we don’t see so many peeling coating complaints. At present, it is unacceptable in my humble opinion..

What Can You Do to Make your Air Fryer Last?

Research and/or Buy Quality

Our number one defense against shoddily put together air fryers is to not buy them on a whim. If you see one heavily discounted, for example, don’t just buy straight away without a second thought! Take the time to do research into user reviews and see what problems most users are having. If you see a lot complaining about longevity issues, give it a miss.

I would recommend spending more and buying a quality brand of air fryer, something I was happy I did with my more expensive Philips model. This is especially the case if you want to clean it in a dishwasher. However, even if you think a brand is quality, you still need to do the same research because some of these brands are not immune to quality issues.

Take Care

As stated above, the air fryer non-stick coating often leaves a lot to be desired. Make sure to soak your air fryer basket and accessories in soapy water before cleaning, and only clean by wiping with a non-abrasive cloth. This will at least help preserve this delicate coating for longer.

Buy an Air Fryer Oven

In recent years, we have seen the emergence of the air fryer oven. The great thing here is that many don’t have any non-stick coating on them, and if they do, it is often on cheap to replace baking trays. This pretty much eliminates the quality issues surrounding non-stick coatings, which should help the product last a lot longer. Still do your research, though 🙂

Below is an example of an air fryer oven I like at the time of writing.

May the Longevity Be With You!!

Well, that’s it for today. Hopefully, that will help you navigate the sometimes tricky world of air fryers. Yes, there are models out there that don’t last long. However, you can see from my own experiences that if you do your research, you can still find something that will last you for years.