Sage the Smart Oven Air Fryer Countertop Oven 22L, SOV860BSS, Stainless Steel

Product Information

We found getting Sage’s the Combi Wave 3 in 1 to deliver optimum performance requires a little bit of practice, especially if you’re going for custom settings. You can, of course, use many of the presets, which generally perform as expected. The three core cooking options; air fryer, convection oven and inverter microwave all functioned predictably enough during the defaults. There’s no doubt that the design and build quality on offer from the Sage the Combi Wave 3 in 1 helps to justify its price tag. The unit is very nicely put together, with plenty of brushed stainless steel on show, both inside and out. This is topped off by an internal light when you open the door that helps make your food look even more appealing. Sage are expert at designing kitchen appliances with cleverly integrated functions to take the stress out of cooking. Their range of smart appliances, which includes kettles, toasters, and blenders, through to their ice cream maker and microwaves, has been exactingly considered to give you perfect results every time, all at the push of a button. Whether its prepping, boiling, whisking, whipping, grilling, cooking and baking, thanks to Sage, cooking has never been so easy. The presets themselves can be handy, although a few are similar. For example, you’ll find Toast and Crumpet (which appear to vary by shelf position), and Bake and Roast, which differ by only 15ºC and duration.

Offering incredible value for money is Russell Hobbs' Express Air Fry Mini Oven. Combining five cook functions with a generously sized capacity, we found it passed the all-important fries test (crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside), and it's also great for cooking freezer food, pizza, fresh bread, tray bakes, and more.We followed the instructions to the letter, brushing the bird with a tablespoon of oil before leaving it to cook on the rotisserie spit for an hour. When the 60 minutes was up, we took a tentative look and were impressed. It looked perfectly cooked and after leaving it to sit for 10 minutes, we started carving it. It was juicy, moist and cooked through, with a crispy skin. The drip tray also meant that clearing up was pretty straightforward, too. Sandwiched between the LCD screen and two large buttons are six function buttons that include Fast Combi, From Frozen, Air Fry, Oven, Microwave and Food Menu. Those large buttons let you dial in timings, temperature and weight settings and offer start and stop simplicity. Combined with the menu system displayed on the LCD screen, which changes from cool blue to orange during operation, it’s all pretty intuitive. This is a proper air fryer, too, although topping out at 210°C it can’t quite get the crispiest of results that air fryers with a higher temperature can reach. I do really like the steam air fry option: this creates perfect chips that are crispy on the outside and fluffy on the inside. If you’ll just be using the air fryer function most often, this probably isn’t the right appliance for you – compared to upright models, it’s bulky, needs more cleaning and has a much higher price than most. That said, it’s great for families, entertaining and batch cookers who never have enough oven space.

The oven was easy to set and each preset’s time and temperature can be toggled. However, there are a few areas that could be improved. For example, Sage the Smart Oven Air Fry doesn’t heat up as fast as most air fryers, taking up to five minutes from cold to reach a high temperature. The product boasts a generous capacity 22l capacity across three different tray positions, meaning you can fit in everything from cake trays to a large meat joint. We tested out a couple of recipes from the product's accompanying recipe book: the Deep Dish Apple Pie was juicy and crispy, while the air-fried sweet potato wedges were such a hit that we cooked them three nights consecutively. And while the Ninja is so easy to clean, the Sage can be a real struggle, especially due to the glass door and the different inserts, which seem to hold grease like nothing else. It can also be used to roast meat and veg, offering more of an oven-like capacity than some of the products on this list that are more limited by height. We particularly liked the 'keep warm' function, which kept leftover food at the perfect temperature for second helpings during dinner. If you don’t want to use the pre-installed settings, using the simple dial controls and LED display on the front of the machine lets you control the settings manually. This lets you use the Smart Oven Pro like a more traditional oven, but with the same small footprint.On the other hand, the Sage did cook faster and more evenly than cheaper air fryers we’ve previously tested, with a single pan of chips taking only 25 minutes. Heating elements: An air fryer is a convection oven that circulates hot air throughout the appliance. A toaster oven will typically have two heating elements, one at the top and one at the bottom of the appliance. We loved its cool aesthetic too. In brushed stainless steel, it looks really modern and is probably one of the more 'stylish' air fryer toaster ovens out there. Its one obvious downside is that hefty price tag but if you've got the cash to spend, it's a brilliant investment for your kitchen.