Kitchenaid dual convection countertop oven with air fryer

We purchased the KitchenAid Dual Convection Countertop Oven so our reviewer could put it to the test in her kitchen. Keep reading for our full product review.

Convection ovens promise to save you time by using strategically-placed fans and hot air to cook food up to 20 percent faster. But full-size convection ovens typically have a higher price tag than their conventional counterparts. The KitchenAid Dual Convection Countertop Oven is a countertop-friendly oven with the power of a full-size convection oven at a much lower price. KitchenAid makes a lot of promises about what this oven can do, so I put it to the test to see if it could stand up to its claims.

Design: Sleek-looking, but obtrusive

As far as looks go, this oven really is sleek and visually appealing. It has a matte black finish with stainless steel accents (like the handle and rim around the door), a black chrome knob, and black buttons, so everything goes together nicely. But at 16.4 x 18.5 x 13 inches, it takes up a significant amount of space on the kitchen countertop and looks quite obtrusive.

Even though I have a decent amount of counter space, I still didn’t like having to dedicate so much of it to this oven, especially since it doesn’t do much that a regular oven can’t do.

Even though there was nothing life-changing about this oven’s features, it got high marks as far as performance goes.

Features

The KitchenAid Dual Convection Countertop Oven can do plenty of oven-related jobs, but it doesn’t have a lot of extras, like some of the other countertop appliances out there. It has 12 preset cooking functions, so you can use it to bake, roast, toast, proof dough, and reheat food items, but there’s no grilling or air-frying options, for example. Most of the preset cooking functions are designed to make cooking basic things, like pizza, toast, and bagels, easier, but they were nothing mind-blowing. It does have an easy-to-read digital display and a single turn knob that makes it easy to navigate through the different functions to find the one you want, which makes it very user-friendly.

My favorite feature was the built-in temperature probe and the linked pre-programmed setting. There’s a plug inside the convection oven and you simply put one end of the temperature probe into the plug and the other into the meat you’re cooking. When using the temperature probe, you can use the dial to navigate toward the dedicated setting. Then all you have to do is choose the internal meat temperature you want and the oven does the rest. The probe automatically monitors the meat and the convection oven will shut off and alert you when it’s done.

There’s also an interior light that stays on during the whole cooking process, so you can check on your food as it cooks, without having to open the door.

The KitchenAid Dual Convection Countertop Oven can do plenty of oven-related jobs, but it doesn’t have a lot of extras, like some of the other countertop appliances out there.

Performance: Impressive and time-saving

Even though there was nothing life-changing about this oven’s features, it got high marks as far as performance goes. With the temperature probe and the meat probe setting, I used the oven to cook thinly-sliced chicken cutlets. After 5 minutes of cooking, the oven beeped to let me know the chicken had reached the desired temperature. I thought there was no way it could be done already, but it was. And it was perfectly cooked and juicy.

After cooking the chicken, I moved on to more basic functions, like toasting bread, cooking frozen pizza, and reheating some chicken parm leftovers. As expected, the convection oven handled all of these with ease.

The next day, I wanted to see how it fared against a whole 4-pound roasted chicken, and the performance was equally impressive. The chicken was ready in about an hour—a job that usually takes about an hour and 15 minutes to an hour and a half in my conventional oven—and the skin felt crispier.

Cleaning: Quick and effortless

When it came time to clean up, it went as quickly and smoothly as cooking. The entire interior of the oven is made of a non-stick surface, so I used a sponge to wipe away any grease and splatter and it came right off. The included 9 x 13-inch pan and racks were just as easy to clean—some soap and hot water and a quick wipe down with a sponge did the trick.

The oven also includes a crumb catcher, so if you leave that in when you’re making toast or heating up other crumbly things, you won’t have to deal with a mess on the bottom of the oven.

It does an impressive cooking job, but if you’re willing to shell out close to $300, there are other countertop appliances out there that do more.

Price: A considerable investment

At a retail price around $280, the KitchenAid Dual Convection Countertop Oven definitely isn’t the cheapest option out there. It does an impressive cooking job, but if you’re willing to shell out close to $300, there are other countertop appliances out there that do more.

Competition: Options to fit your needs

KitchenAid 12-Compact Convection Countertop Oven: If you like the idea of a dedicated countertop convection oven, but don’t want to give up so much counter space, KitchenAid also offers a compact version: the KitchenAid 12-Inch Compact Countertop Oven. This oven packs a lot of power and still has an interior that can fit two 12-inch pizzas with a much smaller—or 11.3 x 17.7 x 16.7-inch—footprint.

Ninja Foodi Smart XL Indoor Grill: Don’t let the "grill" in the name fool you, the Ninja Foodi Smart XL Indoor Grill, which I also tested, uses cyclonic air—technology that’s similar to a convection oven—to grill, sear, bake, air fry, roast, broil, and dehydrate. It does everything the KitchenAid Dual Convection Countertop Oven can do and more, and also includes a temperature probe that automatically monitors meat progress.

Final Verdict

Impressive performance, but not totally necessary.

While the KitchenAid Dual Convection Countertop Oven certainly lives up to its promises of faster cooking in an easy-to-use design, I'm not totally convinced that this is a necessary appliance in your kitchen. Unlike other countertop appliances that serve multiple functions, it really only does the work of a convection oven, while also demanding a lot of countertop space.

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