This discounted air fryer is a staple in Stanley Tucci's kitchen – we put it to the test to see why

Stanley Tucci may be best known for his roles in film and TV, but most recently, he's established himself as a force in the culinary world. Naturally, this means we're going to take note of his appliances, starting with his air fryer.  

Of course, Stanley has one of the best air fryers on the market, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer, but he's not the only figure to put its ability to the test. Alex, H&G's appliance reviewer, rated four and a half stars after a stint in the test kitchen – but what is it a safe investment?

As Stanley demonstrates, the appliance makes an excellent creamy pasta bake, but it's not the only Italian dish that will impress. 'I really liked the pizza function. It made a genuine difference when heating up a store-bought pizza, and tasted far better than if I'd just heated it up in an oven,' Alex comments.

'The air fryer function is great, if not the best we've ever tested, and made good bacon and roasted vegetables. It also did a pretty good job toasting six slices of bread from frozen.'

If there's a time to invest, it's right now. Stanley's air fryer is discounted for a short time, so we wouldn't recommend waiting to look before investing. 

Breville Smart Oven Pro Toaster Oven | Was  $299.95, now $223.95 at Amazon

The Breville Smart Oven Pro is a high-performance countertop oven with the power to reduce cooking time by up to 30 percent. It offers ten cooking functions and a  useful interior light that lets us see when our food is cooked to perfection. 

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Alex David

Alex is our Head of eCommerce, and he tested this toaster oven over a day in our dedicated testing kitchen. He learnt how to review at the Good Housekeeping Institute and has since worked on a variety of other publications, assessing homewares, garden machinery, and especially kitchen appliances. 

So why didn't this appliance get all five stars? 'My big criticism of it is the magnetic door. It’s meant to help you pull the rack out of the oven, but I found that if you used the nonstick pizza dish, it was easy for it to stick to the door when you pulled it out thanks to the strong magnets,' Alex says.

'In terms of speed, it’s almost too good. Like most air fryers, it’s very fast to cook food, so there’s a bit of a learning curve to figuring out when your food will be ready.'

If it's good enough for Stanley (and, of course, Alex), we're willing to give this smart cooker a try. We can only hope our bake looks as delectable as the one from Stanley's now Instagram-famous London kitchen.