The heated debate over premium countertop ovens has reached a fever pitch, and this Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Review aims to settle it. After six weeks of testing in my kitchen, I’m breaking down whether this viral appliance lives up to the hype!
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What Makes the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Stand Out
Putting the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer through its paces revealed some standout features that justify its premium positioning.
The smart sensors and Element iQ system ensure consistent results across all cooking methods, from air frying crispy wings to baking delicate pastries.
Most impressively, the super convection setting slashed cooking times by up to 30% while maintaining excellent food quality.
The oven’s build quality and thoughtful design elements set it apart from competitors. The LCD display is crystal clear, the magnetic auto-eject rack prevents burns, and the interior light makes monitoring food easy.
What Size of Smart Oven Should I Buy?
The Smart Oven Air Fryer is currently available in a 0.8 cubic ft standard model and a 1 cubic ft Pro model.
The size is the main difference between the two: the model we’re reviewing can toast 6 slices of toast. The larger Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro model can toast 9 slices of toast and comfortably fits 9×13 pans and muffin trays. The Pro also offers two more settings: Proof and Dehydrate.
Ultimately, if you intend to use a Smart Oven Air Fryer to replace your traditional oven, I’d go with the larger Pro if you have the extra space. Otherwise, either one will work well in your kitchen.
🛒 Bring the standard-size Smart Oven Air Fryer into your kitchen and enjoy crispy, juicy, roasted, and baked meals.
What You’ll Love About The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer
There’s SO much I love about my Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer. Here are some of my favorite features.
- Perfect Toast: The Smart Oven excels at creating toast and bagels with precise browning control, from barely golden to dark brown. The specialized Bagel setting browns only the top while perfectly warming the bottom, making it ideal for everything from basic toast to cinnamon-raisin bagels with a caramelized sugar topping.
- Superior Air Frying: The SuperConvection setting delivers exceptional crispiness that outperforms traditional air fryers, especially for frozen foods. It even has the remarkable ability to revive cold fast-food items, bringing them back to their original crispy state.
- Smart Design: Thoughtful features include a magnetic rack system that automatically ejects the middle rack for safe food removal without oven mitts. Additional conveniences include an ergonomic power cord design with a finger hole for easy unplugging and an automatic oven light that activates when preheating is complete.
- Energy Efficient: Users report choosing this oven over their traditional one for 90% of cooking tasks, from cookies to lasagna. It heats up faster and doesn’t warm the kitchen like a full-size oven, making it perfect for year-round use.
- Versatile Cooking: The included accessories transform this oven into a complete cooking system. The air fry basket, 13-inch pizza pan, and quarter-size roasting pan with rack enable everything from crispy wings to perfectly baked pizzas and even a nice roast.
- Quick Results: The convection cooking technology reduces cooking times by up to 30% compared to traditional methods. Foods like frozen chicken nuggets cook in just 8 minutes instead of the usual 12, without sacrificing quality or texture.
Color Options
Breaking from traditional appliance offerings, the Smart Oven now comes in different sophisticated finishes. These options ensure the oven can complement any kitchen design scheme while maintaining its premium functionality. The colors include;
- Brushed Stainless Steel
- Black Stainless Steel
- Black Truffle
- Sea Salt (White)
- Damson Blue
- Oyster Shell (Darker Matte Grayish)
- Royal Champagne
- Smoked Hickory (Lighter Matte Grayish)
What You Need to Know Before Buying
- Space Requirements: The oven requires enough counter space. It needs 4 inches on each side and 6 inches above for proper ventilation. Items cannot be stored on top unless using a specialized bamboo tray, and the unit shouldn’t be placed at the counter’s edge.
- Not Microwave Compatible: While excellent for reheating food without sogginess, this appliance doesn’t replace a microwave. It’s a complementary kitchen tool that reduces microwave usage but may not eliminate the need for a microwave if you need to often reheat food quickly.
- Pan Limitations: The oven’s dimensions restrict the use of certain standard bakeware, particularly 9×13 pans with handles and 12-cup muffin trays.
- Foil Restrictions: Unlike traditional ovens, covering the crumb tray with aluminum foil is prohibited as it can cause overheating. This means alternative cleaning methods must be considered.
- Recipe Adjustments: When using the convection feature, cooking temperatures need to be reduced by 25°F from standard recipe instructions. SuperConvection mode requires additional adjustments to both temperature and cooking time for optimal results.
How Does the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Compare to the Original Breville Smart Oven?
The Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer has kept the organization and design from the original Smart Oven and has added a few more nice-to-have features! The Smart Oven Air Fryer still has the same easy-to-read LCD screen.
I really love that the menus are in the same order and the buttons are in the same places. It makes the upgrade that much easier. (Note: the menus are switched around a little bit on the Smart Oven Air Fryer Pro.)
The new features for the Smart Oven Air Fryer include;
- Two new cook settings: Air Fry and Slow Cook.
- Both a Convection and Super Convection option
- A range of colors that would look amazing in any kitchen
How Does the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Compare to the Instant Pot Vortex?
First of all, there are different versions of the Instant Pot Vortex: a 6-quart basket-style air fryer and a 10-quart air fryer oven. In my everyday cooking, I prefer the lightweight, easy cleanup, and simple design of the basket-style air fryer.
The Breville Smart Oven is a third type of Air Fryer: a toaster oven–style air fryer. In other words, it’s more than just an air fryer, which helps me justify the countertop space.
When comparing just the Air Fryer functions, the Breville cooks a little hotter. Cookies that took me 10 minutes in my Instant Pot Vortex were done in 8 minutes in the Breville.
📊 To fully compare the Breville Smart Oven to other air fryers, check out my Instant Pot Vortex Review.
How to Use Breville Air Fryer
Air Frying Instructions
It’s really easy to air fry in the smart oven! Below are the steps on how to use Breville air fryer:
Step 1: Turn the Function dial to Air Fry. (You’ll notice that the superconvection icon is displayed.)
Step 2: Use the Temperature dial to select the temperature called for in the recipe.
Step 3: Use the Time dial to adjust the time to the time given in the recipe.
Step 4: Press the Frozen button to ensure it’s not showing. (Unless you’re air frying foods straight from frozen, of course.)
Step 5: Press the Start button and wait for the oven to preheat before you add the food.
Step 6: If you are using the air fryer basket that comes with the oven, Breville recommends placing it on the top rack position once food has been added.
Pro Tip: If your recipe features foods that may drip (like chicken or cheese), use the grilling rack nested inside of the roasting pan instead of the air fryer basket.
Baking on Traditional, Convection, and Super Convection
To bake in the Smart Oven, simply turn the Function dial to Bake. Press the Fan button to turn on Convection or Super Convection. Remember, if you’re baking a traditional recipe on convection, be sure to adjust your cooking temperature accordingly.
If you’re cooking on Super Convection, you’ll need to reduce the oven temperature and the time as well. It’s not an exact science, so you’ll want to keep a close eye on things until you get familiar with the timing of the recipes you want to cook.
Types of Liners to Use in Breville Smart Fryer
Can you use foil in air fryer? Yes, you can use aluminum foil in the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer, but never cover the crumb tray—this causes overheating and can damage the appliance. Line only the air fryer basket or roasting pan, keeping foil away from heating elements and weighted down with food to prevent it from flying around. Foil is ideal for greasy foods and easy cleanup, but always follow these restrictions to avoid fire hazards.
Can I use parchment paper in air fryer? Yes, parchment paper is safe and recommended for the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer. Never preheat with parchment inside—add it only with food on top to prevent it from touching the heating element. Use perforated parchment designed for air frying to ensure proper air circulation, and trim it to fit without overhang near heating elements.
Can you use baking paper in air fryer? Yes, baking paper and parchment paper are the same thing, so all the same safety guidelines apply. The key consideration is temperature rating—most baking paper handles up to 420-450°F, but the Breville can reach higher temperatures, so always check your paper’s heat tolerance before use. Avoid wax paper, which melts and creates a fire hazard, and ensure your baking paper is trimmed to size with no overhang near the heating elements for safe cooking.
Cleaning Tips For Your Smart Oven
The Breville smart oven air fryer is not a self cleaning oven, so you’ll need some soft sponges and gentle cleansers. The user manual recommends running the oven empty for 20 minutes to burn off a protective coating from the heating elements.
For general cleaning, the basic recommendations are to never use metal and to not spray any cleanser directly on the oven itself. Here is a detailed guide for cleaning your oven.
Outer Body
Use a soft, lightly damp sponge to wipe down the toaster oven. If needed, spray a cloth with a non-abrasive cleaner, then use it to clean the toaster oven.
Glass Door
Use a glass cleaner or non-abrasive cleaner and a soft damp sponge. Your regular dish soap will work perfectly. For stubborn baked-on items, you can use a soft plastic scouring pad but don’t use metal.
Inside Walls
The walls have a nonstick coating, so treat them gently like you would a nonstick pan. Spray the cleaner on a soft damp sponge to avoid spraying cleaner on the heating elements. Wipe with a damp cloth to finish.
Heating Element
Unplug and cool completely before cleaning. Use a soft, lightly damp cloth along the length of the heating element. No cleansers of any kind are recommended on the heating element. Let everything dry before plugging it back in.
Crumb Tray
Each time you use the oven, slide out the crumb tray and clean it. If there’s baked on grease, you can soak the tray in soapy water and wash with a soft sponge or plastic scrubber. Make sure it’s thoroughly dried before returning it to the oven.
Oven Racks, Baskets & Pans
Wondering whether you can put Breville Smart Oven wire racks in the dishwasher? Unfortunately not; Breville recommends hand wash only for these items. And no metal utensils on them either. Be sure to rinse well and dry completely.
Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer FAQS
Yes, if you plan to use it regularly as your primary cooking appliance. Most users report choosing it over their traditional oven 90% of the time, which makes the investment worthwhile through energy savings and faster cooking times. The premium build quality, versatile cooking functions, and time-saving features justify the cost for serious home cooks, but it may be overkill if you only need basic toasting or occasional air frying.
It can replace a regular oven for most everyday cooking tasks, including cookies, lasagna, roasted meats, and baked goods. However, it has size limitations—the standard model fits 6 slices of toast while the Pro fits 9 slices and accommodates 9×13 pans. If you frequently cook large meals for gatherings or need multiple racks simultaneously, you’ll still need your traditional oven as a backup.
For the Convection setting, reduce your recipe temperature by 25°F from standard instructions. For Super Convection mode, reduce both temperature and cooking time—expect up to 30% faster cooking. Start by checking food earlier than the recipe suggests and adjust based on results, as Super Convection requires monitoring until you’re familiar with how your specific recipes perform.
Bottom Line: Is the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer Worth It?
After six weeks of daily use, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer has earned its permanent spot on my counter. Yes, the price tag is steep, but the combination of smart technology, versatile cooking modes, and premium build quality delivers real value for anyone who cooks regularly. If you’re replacing multiple appliances—a toaster oven, air fryer, and slow cooker—the investment makes even more sense.
The energy efficiency, faster cooking times, and consistent results have transformed my daily cooking routine, reducing my traditional oven use by 90%. For casual cooks or those on a tight budget, there are cheaper alternatives that will get the job done. But if you’re a serious home cook who values quality, convenience, and performance, the Breville Smart Oven Air Fryer is absolutely worth the investment. It’s not just another kitchen gadget—it’s a game-changer that will genuinely improve how you cook.
More Appliance Review to Consider
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Bob Bercaw
Can I bake regular sized loaf of bread?
Lindy
Hi I am curious to know how your oven has held up. My Breville BOV800XL which I purchased in 2011, just crapped out. Some sort of electrical issue that caused the plug to melt a bit.
I was going to replace it with a similar model, but I keep coming across reviewers complaining that their ovens are dying shortly after the 1year warranty is up. That has me wondering if something in their production has changed. Are your fan, temperature control and door still functioning properly? Those appear to be the problematic components.
John gasior
Do you guys know how I might get a user manual ,thanks
Melissa Griffiths
I’d try reaching out the the Breville customer service, they might be able to send you a digital pdf of one.
Gail
What model number is the Breville you tested ?
Ayesha
Hi,,,thanks really for the amazing review, I am just worried about one thing, I am not sure about the non stick coating , in general I always prefer stainless steel in my kitchen machines, I wanna know if this coating can produce some kind of bad chemicals that can affect food, this is the only reason that makes me not convinced to buy this oven , I really would like to hear your opinion about this
Dc
Yes I would like to know as well please
Diane
Thank you for such a thorough review. I was contemplating what to buy and rewind your review has helped greatly.
Jennifer Degenhardt
What do the arrows pointing down mean between the 2 levels. Not sure what placement to use for the down arrow.
Jennifer McDaniel
OK, if I’m understanding your question correctly, the arrow is indicating that due to the magnet the oven will automatically pull the tray out for you when you use the door. It’s the center position on the oven.
If you’re talking about something different let me know and I’ll take a look at it! 🙂
Carin
Great article!! I’m definitely thinking this would be an excellent replacement for my old air fryer and my even older toaster oven in my small kitchen. Considering that it’s October, I’m wondering if I should wait a bit for Black Friday specials… anyone know if the Breville goes on sale?
Barbara Schieving
Thanks Carin – occasionally there will be a special for Black Friday, but Breville doesn’t go on sale as often or as much as other brands. Also, I’ve seen lots of new stories about shopping early this year if there’s something you really want.
Barbara Malewska
Hi Barbara and Jennifer,
I own the Breville Smart Air oven – for about 3 yrs. I did lots of research prior to purchasing. I simply love this appliance. I rarely use my big oven anymore as there are just 2 of us. Here are some tips I have found useful –
1. There is a groove depression between the bottom glass door and the plastic border. It will collect melted fats and begin to smell if not attended to. I have found that running a slightly soapy cloth wrapped around my finger and using my fingernail, run it along this groove to remove the fat. I do this every time I air fry anything using the basket and that has any oil or fat that may drip when the door is opened. I have also started laying paper towels onto the glass when opening the door and before pulling the baskets.
2. Do purchase the extra baskets and the bamboo board. This makes an excellent storage space for the baskets and it is a convenient place to put the racks when using the baskets. And the racks are very usable. You will find that after some time, the racks will become discolored, but this does not hinder their function.
3. I place the bottom rack in the lowest position and line it with foil – just covering the rack tines, not the entire surface. This also is a method for collecting dripping fat before it has a chance to drip onto the crumb tray.
4. I ALWAYS wipe out the oven after usage – waiting until it has cooled a bit. It is easier to wipe out and collect spatters while still slightly warm.
5. I purchased a ‘real’ jellyroll pan to use in this oven, 15′ X 10′. You will need to search for this size as so many manufactures have gone to a smaller size that is just a bit larger than a 1/4 sheet pan. It fits with about an inch all around for air circulation. I also use the 1/8 sized pan for small or single items and 1/4 sized pans for many items.
Hope you enjoy you new oven – it is the greatest.
Barbara Schieving
So many great tips – thanks for sharing Barbara!