We put the biggest air fryer to the test –the new Philips 3000 Series Dual Basket

If you’ve followed the somewhat short history of air fryers, you’ll have seen that Philips were innovators from the outset. Their patented star technology, consistent airflow, and sleek design has secured them a safe spot as a household name.

When Philips launched the 3000 Dual Basket, I was thrilled. They’re a steadfast name in our buying guide for the best air fryers and, with more capacity, two drawers, and versatile settings, they promise a lot, especially for large households with demanding appetites.

I tested the Philips across a range of functions, using it for everything from chips to rice and fish fingers. The results were as impressive as I expected. You’ll want to hear more about it though.

Specifications

Unboxing

As you might expect, the Philips is a big air fryer. It comes with a lot of cardboard packaging, which is easily recyclable and doesn’t take up too much space once it’s all flattened. I love the sleek, modern aesthetic of the Philips. It’s nothing short of beautiful and, for the short time that it was on the countertop, it received a lot of admiring looks. 

I didn’t even need to look up any instructions to get this set up. I rinsed the baskets and plugged in the air fryer. All the icons are self-explanatory, offering adjustable pre-sets, synchronized baskets, and plenty of other useful features.

Who would it suit?

With a dual basket set-up and 9.5-quart capacity, the Philips is practically made for big, busy households. It can cook different foods and synchronize the finish time for them. You’ll also get easy controls, versatility, and speed, for a small price tag too. 

I could list endless different households who would love this, but you’d be safe to assume that you’re one of them. The only people who might want to steer clear are those with compact countertops and small kitchens. Even then, if this replaces your oven, it’s worth clearing some space for.  

What is it like to use?

As I’ve hinted at, Philips designed this for air frying novices but it works like one made for professionals. It’s a real treat. 

You don’t need to do anything before you start frying, in fact, it doesn't even come with instructions, because the whole appliance is incredibly intuitive. You can adjust the temperature in half-degree increments and the time by the minute, so that you can achieve the perfect results, tailored to your tastes.

I put the Philips through our standard series of tests and here's what I found:

Test 1: fries

A classic test for any air fryer is how well it handles chips. I used french fries, from frozen, and poured them straight into the bigger drawer. The pre-set gives your chips 25 minutes at 205. There's no need to wait for any pre-heat, you can just pour them in and they're good to go. 

Halfway through the time, the Philips beeped, reminding me to flip or shake the chips so that they cook evenly. However, when I opened my drawer, I actually thought the chips looked perfect. They were evenly golden across the whole drawer, so I took them out and gave them a taste. They were fluffy on the inside and crispy on the outside: absolutely perfect in just over ten minutes.

After letting some of these cool, I used the reheat function to give them a blast of heat. It didn't dry them out, making them leathery, or too crispy, which is rare for most air fryers.

Test 2: roasted vegetables

We always give our air fryers some vegetables to roast, since this is a great indicator of how well it can replace a grill for your peppers, as well as how thoroughly it will cook onions. Again, I used the pre-set which estimated that the vegetables would need 20 minutes at 180. I checked at the half-way beep and my peppers had some brown bubbles appearing, but I wanted to give them a little more time. After another five minutes (the screen timer will count you down), The vegetables were cooked. 

My onions were crispy on the outside and softly tender right through. The peppers were also well cooked with some nice crispy tops. It's a pleasing result.

Test 3: frozen food

The frozen food test is one of the most important ones that we do, because that's where air fryers really excel. If you can use yours to make a quick dinner straight from the freezer drawer, you'll be able to save yourself a lot of time and effort.

I wanted to put the SyncFinish function to the test, so I put some fish fingers in one drawer and fries in the other. You can individually programme each drawer, using the presets and the Philips will align the cooking times so that both parts of the meal finish at the same time.

It only took seventeen minutes, from taking the fish sticks and fries out of the freezer before I had plated this up to taste test. That's super speedy. Plus, you can see that the chips were evenly cooked and, I can attest that the fish sticks were warmed right through. The breadcrumb outside had some nice bite to it, whilst the filling was still moist and hot. It's brilliant.

Cleaning, storage, and maintenance

Philips have thoughtfully made their air fryer baskets dishwasher safe. They're quite big, but if you want to steer clear of the kitchen sink, it's nice to have the option to pack these away and let your dishwasher do the rest.

The touchscreen control panel looks really smart, but it will show up greasy fingerprints. This means that you're probably better off keeping a microfiber cloth nearby so you can wipe away any marks, keeping the air fryer looking beautiful.

Given the sheer size of the Philips, you'll need to invest in this as an air fryer to keep on your countertop full-time. It's worth it if you never use your oven, but I'd do a quick measure of your kitchen to make sure that this won't dominate the sides too much.

How does it rate online?

This is a really new release from Philips, so there's not a huge amount of feedback online from other reviewers. However, I did manage to find some useful customer reviews that unanimously confirm what I already suspected: this is brilliant.

All customers commented on the sleek design of the Philips. Common adjectives used were 'classy' and 'understated'. However, alongside this praise, people always also mentioned that this is huge. One small person with high countertops struggled to see the control panel, but I'm 5 ft (which is pretty tiny) and didn't have any trouble with our tall kitchen countertops. It's worth keeping in mind.

Lots of people also loved how quiet this is. Almost everyone said that it was quieter than their current model. Plenty of people had to double-check that it was even running. 

Lots of people mentioned the cable storage at the back, which doubles up as a safety feature that stops the air fryer vents from pushing up against your wall. Philips doesn't explain this, which means that some people complained that they couldn't push theirs right back. Actually, it's a really smart feature, especially since you can use it to wind the cable around when that's not in use.

How does it compare?

There are increasing numbers of dual-drawer air fryers on the market, so this has a lot of direct competitors. My favorite is the Instant Vortex Plus Dual Drawer Air Fryer, so it's only fair to compare the two.

Whilst the two are both dual-drawer air fryers, there's much to be made of their differences. The Instant has twin drawers, so they have the same capacity as each other, whereas the Philips has one small drawer and one bigger one. I actually prefer the Philips, since you have the option to only heat a small drawer if you don't have a big air frying task, but I can see where this might be frustrating if you wanted to split things half and half.

Both models are well-built, so I would but them both in the category of a 'durable' air fryer. However, the Philips definitely has the edge over quality. The handles are brushed stainless steel, the drawers feel premium and the overall build quality is, true to Philips' reputation, unbeatable. 

They're both speedy cooks too, although you'll need to wait for the Instant to pre-heat. Once they're running, the clear viewing windows on the Instant give it a slight edge in terms of checking up on your food, since you won't need to open the Instant's drawers to check up on your fries.

You can't go wrong with either air fryer. However, if I was making a choice between the two, I'd put my money on the Philips, especially since they're similarly priced.

Should you buy it?

I'm a little bit in love with the Philips. Not only does it look like a premium air fryer, it performs like one too. At the touch of a button, I could enjoy well-cooked food, quickly. 

It's worth noting that this has a tendency to overcook food, but you can adjust the time settings manually, especially if you like your food less well done. It takes up a lot of space, but, if I had to buy an air fryer right now, I'd be getting this.

How we test

At Homes & Gardens the process for how we test air fryers is meticulous. We make notes on everything from aesthetics and unboxing, to how the model performs across a range of food tasks. We make sure that these are versatile enough to cover a range of different kitchens' needs, that way, we can let you know whether the air fryer is suitable for you. 

Our team then uses our experience to comment on the value of the air fryer, as well as comparing it to other, similar models, so that you know whether you're picking the best on the market and what other options there are out there for you. We'll give you a summary of what we think, so that you have a holistic idea of what to expect from your air fryer before you dive into any purchases.