Daewoo Actuate 26L 5-in-1 Air Fryer Microwave Oven – 2400W Combination Oven with Grill, Bake, Reheat, Defrost – One Touch Cooking, Accessories Included, Space-Saving Kitchen Appliance – Black

I’ve had it for nearly a year with heavy daily use of all the functions. It’s an efficient, easy to use appliance that has a range of applications. The air fryer quality is the same as my previous ninja foodi, and the versatility of using the upper or lower shelf is useful to get a different result depending on what I am cooking. The microwave is strong, defrost is effective. I was worried as my previous microwave had different defrost modes, while this one is by weight or time only. But I have found it to work well, if there is a large joint of meat to defrost, I make sure to turn it regularly or cover it, or put it on a lower weight and do a few rounds of defrosting for the best result. The popcorn setting works well, the result is different to the standard microwave setting. The only negative thing is the turn dial, I prefer buttons personally. The size of the appliance is the same as a microwave so if you are replacing two appliances with this one, it is an improvement. The value for money is good as it is cheaper than my previous Panasonic combi microwave, and has the same or better functions.

Pros: I'm very happy with the top basket, particularly as it gives lovely crispy chips and can fit a regular sized pizza (just need to trim less than 1 cm on one edge to fit comfortably). I put tinfoil under the pizza with the edges protruding up so that it is easy to lift out. It is easy to use, very sturdy and easy to wash the top basket. The basket is slightly over 9 inches square and just over 3 inches high which is much better that most of the much more expensive air fryers. The wider the area the easier it is to spread the food and get crispy results. The other fryers are narrower and higher so the chips are stacked more. The synchronised timer for the top and bottom compartments works very well It gives much crisper results than I had with my old Black Tower air fryer. I think that it is very good value for money compared to some of the much more expensive options. The lower oven does give more options for cooking styles but is a bit on the small side and slower. Cons: I'm not sure about the little oven underneath, as it is not a basket, it is more difficult to access or clean. You need to pull out the shelf like you would an oven shelf. The effective cooking area is about 8.5 x 9 inches with only 2 inches height for food. It doesn't fit the pizza, but does fit a toasted sandwich. It's just necessary to allow more time for cooking.

Generally a good overall product either as a microwave, airfryer, or fan oven. For such a device it is compact and needs less space on each side and the back than other manufacturer's equivalent products that I researched. There should be more specifications on the Amazon page about certain details. For example, the airfryer / fan oven max temperature is 230 C and the maximum timer that can be set is 95 minutes. The microwave output is 850 to 900 watts. The instruction manual is okay but it could be much better. There is no grill function but this can be done using the airfryer function. So far I have tried airfrying duck legs and a spatchcock chicken. Both came out beautifully cooked in significantly less time than had I cooked them in a conventional fan oven, and the skin was deliciously crispy - I did put some olive oil on the skin. Frozen potato rosti from Waitrose also came out well but needed turning over half way through for the best results and without using any oil. According to the instructions booklet the max chicken that can be fried is 1.2 Kg but if you spatchcock it (which is quick and simple see YouTube videos) I was easily able to airfry a 1.5 Kg chicken and would imagine even a 1.8 Kg one would be possible, if spatchcocked. The main control knob works well but it does feel a little plasticky. I'm sure a top quality one would have cost only £2 more + profit margin and would have elevated the product considerably. After 3 months use: A couple of little niggles: 1. The "Keep Warm" function is set at 140C and cannot be adjusted. This is too hot for most uses. A software tweak could allow this to be made adjustable, say from 50C to 140C. Please do that Daweoo. 2. The bake function does not cook pizza well as the toppings and cheese are overcooked and the middle of the dough base is too soft. The only way to solve this is to preheat the oven then cover the top of the pizza with aluminium foil and bake for about 8 to 10 minutes and then remove the foil and continue baking for about another 4 to 5 minutes or until it looks done. This is for pizzas that are cooked directly on the middle oven shelf in a conventional oven. Using this method it's necessary to secure the foil either under the pizza or with a couple of all metal dessert spoons resting on the foil otherwise the foil blows upwards with the power of the internal fan. A few hours after I bought the product on Amazon I saw it £20 cheaper in the high street. I tried to cancel as it had not been dispatched but I received a message saying it was not possible, but that I could refuse to accept it when it was delivered to my home. I was in all day and the delivery did not ring my number but must have rang another number in the building & left it in the building entrance and sent a photo to me on Amazon. This meant I was unable to not accept it. That is very sneaky and underhand so I have docked a star.

There are no complaints about the work of the airfryer yet. I removed the ball because there was no protective film. It was seen that the film was removed.