Tower T17001 Deep Fat Fryer with Adjustable Thermostat, 2L, 1500W, Black

I looked at a few fryers before settling on this one. I live alone and didn’t want a massive fryer cluttering up my work surface, this is a perfect size for 1 or 2 people. It’s not perfect but for the price you really can’t complain. The temperature doesn’t seem to go high enough at first, so when I put frozen chips in the oil doesn’t really bubble up at first. I don’t mind that as I don’t need to be careful and can just dunk the basket straight down and leave the chips to cook. Frozen skinny fries cook to perfection, crispy but not oily and I can fit enough to satisfy 2 people in there. The viewing window does steam up and even when I followed the tip in the booklet to coat it in oil I still couldn’t really see inside. I found this happens even with the expensive fryers so it’s no big issue. Fill to the maximum level and the oil will cover everything that’s in the basket when it’s lowered down, which you can do with the lid closed if that’s what you prefer. It only takes a few minutes for the oil to come to temperature, the indicator light doesn’t click when it goes out so you need to keep checking on it. Anyone who complains about not being able to remove the inside bowl to clean it needs to consider that this is a basic fryer at a very reasonable price and as long as you have a jug you can pour the used oil into it’s really no big deal. Clean it out at regular intervals and it won’t be any harder to clean than one that’s at least double the price. From past experience I recommended washing the basket as often as possible as this is always the part that gets really yucky if left too long, I do mine after every use, takes a few seconds with your washing up. As a basic, small fryer, no frills, it’s highly recommended. Hope you found my review helpful

We use this item exclusively for frying chips, rather than any poultry, meat or fish and we have owned it for about nine months now. POSITIVES: It is well made and stable, although the basket initially looks to the eye as though it might sit a bit too high and catch on the lid (it isn't a problem though). The carbon filter works well and is changeable. If you are double-frying and want the chips to stand in the basket as the temperature is changed (between a slow cook at 130deg and a final crisp-off at full temp), you can raise the basket without opening the lid and thereby avoid filling the kitchen with fumes. If it matters to you, this is a stylish looking piece of kit. Best of all, the Tower 3Litre fryer strips down to component parts really well for cleaning purposes, including the ability to slide out the front panel and the bottom power pack (my usage so far suggests that a good clean every two months is about right, if you use it fairly regularly - a couple or three times a week). Also, I've no idea how/why the useful window stays so clean despite the bubbling boiling carnage unfolding beneath its surface. NEGATIVES: Maximum of two servings per fry-up. Takes a lot of oil, as the deep and the well-made main compartment sits a lot lower than the basket (this probably gives a good even heat though and avoids partial burning due to this design). Power flex could do with being a little longer. Best used on a tray on the (cold) hob as escaping steam/smoke is ideally removed through your cooker's extractor hood. This is definitely the best of the three deep fryers I have owned and operated in the last ten years. I did a lot of research before buying this item, and I'd say it is the best home deep fryer of its size on the market. As for reviewers' complaints about the timer being an audio "ping" only and not having a power cut-out; well you should NEVER leave a fryer on without being there, and therefore the timer is only there as a useful guide. You should be checking and attending a fryer at all times, so the timer should never lead to the house burning down. Happy frying!

A nice tidy little fryer, ideal Size for one large portion of chips, easy to use, remember to shake basket when down in fat, otherwise chips stick together

Great deep fat fryer, bought mainly for chips after retiring the chip pan, required a little experimenting with cooking times and temperatures to get the chip's how we like them, soft but not burnt, got it down to a fine art now, chips take next to no time and taste great, not full of grease. Downside is if used regularly it does require oil changing more frequently than a chip pan and takes a lot of it, if you're using a more expensive brand can prove quite expensive, the cheaper supermarkets L**l own oil does a great job. Upside, it does a great job, quick and easy, low odour, easy to clean and above all its safe! Would highly recommend

Pros… • Heats up fairly quickly and works very well (as long as the lids are not used) • Despite what the manual and other people say, it works very well with both beef-dripping* and olive oil — both of which can safely be used several times per week for several months …and longer still if (from time to time) are decanted and filtered using thin kitchen-roll or a fine metal mesh to get rid of both fine and coarse debris. • Good sized baskets and deep oil tanks. • Fairly compact despite its oil capacity and it fits perfectly inside my kitchen cupboard. * Make sure to be initially patient and slowly warm the solidified beef dripping at a low, gentle temperature, before cranking-up the fryer to full heat. Cons… • After two uses, the white text and numbers on the control panel started disappearing when merely (gently) wiped with a soft wet cloth — I hear this compliant a lot for fryers from different brands. • Unlike my new Tefal Easy pro, the lids are almost useless. – They came warped and slightly out of shape …and even after some gentle manipulation, they did not fit snugly on the fryer. – Also (unlike the Tefal) the lid's air-vents are blocked (foolishly) with a padding-like ‘filter’, which dangerously forces hot, high-pressure steam out of the sides of the lid's imperfections and other small gaps. Worse still, is the steam which does not escape, quickly turns back to water and drips back into the hot oil — which causes a volatile reaction. --------- In my view this would be a truly excellent fryer if two samll things could be changed... 1. If Tower used a manufacturing method which ensured that the temperature numbers and other characters don't rub off (a problem my Tefal does not have) 2. Remove the padding-like ’filters’* from the vents — which would allow the vents to actually let steam escape and focus and direct the steam upwards in a narrow stream…which is ideal, even more so if you wisely use a fryer under an extraction fan. *I think with the aid of needle-nose pliers you can open the vent panels and remove the pads. Sadly, I sent my dual Tower fryer back due to the above issues and replaced it with two single Tefal Easy Pros (£49 each) — they are shorter-but-deeper, and have snug-fitting lids which have non-blocked vents which (to my pleasant surprise) work incredibly well to narrowly focus and direct steam upwards — even with chips.* They also have a slightly superior feel to their build quality. Also, with any traditional fryer like this — with or without a good, functional lid — I strongly recommend (for obvious reasons) only using it while placed under a decent, over-the-hob extractor fan — like you would with any other kind of frying or boiling. *Please make sure to only use recognised 'chipping-potatoes’ when frying chips. e.g. Potatoes like 'english chippers' (AKA english Maris Pipers), Markies, Russets …and Agrias (or any other type of Mediterranean-style, 'dry', floury potato). Other more common, waxy, wetter potatoes will produce horrible, bitter, brown/burned, soggy, greasy chips ...or hard, inedible chips — if you don’t cook them long enough to go brown/burned. Conversely, proper 'chipping spuds' — once, chipped, washed and dried — will very quickly go firm or crispy on the surface, but go soft and fluffy on the inside ...and are almost impossible to visually burn/go brown. Happy frying folks!

This is a review after limited use but may help if you are considering purchase. To be clear it applies to the small 2 litre fryer as these reviews cover some very different products. First off we were not expecting miracles. This is a cheap fryer bought as we now mainly use an air fryer but there ares still occasions when deep frying is a better solution and the big fryer we have been using took too much space and too much oil. As others have noted it does have a limited capacity. That is what we bought. A small 2 litre fryer. If you need to cook for a family of four you don't want this one. Now some detail. The first impression came up to our expectations. A small, neat and quite smart device which is not taking up too much space on a work surface and is light enough so that when full it can still be easily lifted into a cupboard. No assembly required, just remove the packaging, fill with oil and plug it in. The 2 litre capacity takes it to the top of the min and max marks on the pan so is exactly correct. The lid is hinged which is better than some which have removable lids which then need somewhere to put them down when checking/removing food. There is a small filter in the lid which looks possible to clean but is simple filter cloth so should be easy to replace if needed. The only controls are a button to release the sprung lid and a temperature control. It turns on when you plug it in as there is no separate on/off switch. When plugged in there is a rather dim green light to warn you and a red light which shows it is not up to temperature. I always feel this is the wrong way round and the light should show when it is up to temperature but many cooking devices do it this way so it seems some sort of standard. The temperature knob does seem rather flimsy but as already noted I don't expect super quality at the price and it does its job. Checking the temperature with a probe shows it is about right.. I can't comment on the instructions as it is such a simple device we have not opened them. One thing we like is that the element is under the bowl. Many of these have the element inside the bowl which can make them quite hard to keep clean. The bowl itself is fixed but the whole thing is small and light so I can't imagine there would be any problems in cleaning in place. The pan is quite small but enough for a meal for two or snacks for more. It drops into the fat when the handle is folded and lifts out as the handle is pulled horizontal. We noted that it was too small for single large items like poppadoms but really that is zero problem as we just took the pan out, dropped the popadoms in the fat and lifted them out with tongs which we would have done if they were in the pan. Easy. I always try to relate my reviews to the price paid and I was looking for a small, cheap, reasonable looking fryer for occasional use for two people. On that basis it ticks all the boxes.

Does not reach temperature very well

I have read the reviews and used it for the first time today, Sunday 10th of Feb 2019. The unit is very big for the size of the basket that comes with it. It does take quite a time to heat the oil up and the handle is a little flimsy but this is a design fault. From experience with deep fat fryers, it is really important to fill it to the level line and I always fill it to the 'Max' line for full effect on the frying, don't overfill it or it will flow over. I always use Sunflower oil, I find it gives a nice taste and makes the chips nice and crispy, cooking at a higher temperature than some oils, along with Maris Piper potatoes, always. The fryer didn't leak, at all and the chips came out really nice and crispy. The fryer does seem to cause quite a bit of condensation but this is easily wiped off. I would say you can easily cook chips for up to four people, being decent sized portions. I have also found over the years that if you cook fish or scampi in the fryer, for some reason the oil no longer cooks the chips as crispy and they are not nice at all so I always use the fryer for just chips and cook any fish or scampi another way. Maris Piper potatoes and sunflower oil are your secrets to a good chip, cooking them for about four minutes first, let the oil come back up to temperature and then drop them for the rest of the cook. No need to let them go cold, just wait for the oil to come back up to temp' and away you go. A lot of you will know this already but to those of you who don't, I hope that you have great chips as we do. :)