Bella Pro Series – 8-qt. Digital Air Fryer with Divided Basket – Black

This looks sleek and sizeable. I really like the demarcation mesh that was included.

My aunt does most of the cooking in my family, she liked the simple controls of our old air fryer, but it was too small. The Bella 8-qt air fryer is just as easy to use but offers twice the capacity and a few additional modes. So far, we have made fish sticks, a modified version of the fried shrimp from the recipe book, and tater tots – everything came out perfect! You don’t have to eat out to get crispy fried food, which is healthier and more cost effective. ((Pros)) 1. Simple controls: mode, temperature, and time. There is an automatic reminder to turn food, the basket is easy to quickly remove and shake, and cooking resumes automatically when the basket is reinserted. 2. Large capacity basket that is wide and flat, not deep (measuring 9 5/8-in square and 4 1/2-in deep). The wide basket gives food more room to spread, helping it get crispy and cook more evenly. The basket also offers a removable divider. 3. The basket and divider are non-stick and clean easily with soapy water (they are also dishwasher safe). The case and touchscreen are also easy to wipe down. 4. The included instruction/recipe book is short, but really useful. It has a chart of example cook times for various foods, tips on cooking frozen food, and 7 recipes to get you started. ((Things to Consider)) 1. The cord is only 34-in long, so you need to find a spot on the counter with enough space and an outlet close by. This air fryer does not get hot, but it is warm to the touch – you need to make sure that you leave space around it for air to circulate (especially the back vent). 2. When cooking there is some fan noise, but it is quieter than I was expecting for the size. 3. While the design is simple and solid, I would not describe this air fryer as the heavy duty. Most of the case and the front part of the tray are plastic. This makes it lighter than I expected. It is easier to carry and move, but despite having rubber feet to keep it stable, removing/inserting the tray sometimes moves the entire air fryer.

For anyone wishing they could more in their air fryer, this is the size for you. This fryer is pretty big. Our last air fryer was about half this size and we always wished it was larger. It has a modern look to it and a touchscreen interface that gives it a modern feel. While the size is probably the biggest selling point, this fryer has some really good points to it but also a few I’m not that happy about.
The size allows you to fit enough food for an entire family. The drawer is square and you can use it either with or without the included divider. The divider will go in either left to right or front to back, and it helps when cooking different things at the same time like fries and onion rings. You can keep everything separate. We’ve cooked a variety of things in it, and like all the air fryers we’ve bought over the years, it excels at frozen snacks and sides. The cooking experience is good once you can confidently find your way around the touchscreen. The inside has a non-stick coating on it that makes clean up fast and easy. All of the internal parts have the same coating on them so they can be cleaned quickly with just a soapy sponge. The drawer size is my favorite feature. The exterior of the fryer is all plastic, which is pretty standard. Ours did come with a mark of some kind right in the center below the touchscreen. It was there when we unpackaged it, and there doesn’t seem to be any way to rub it off or make it less noticeable. The finish of the plastic does seem to be somewhat prone to scuffs, probably because of the matte finish it has.
The touchscreen is how you control all the cooking. There’s no knobs of any kind. I actually like having a knob on an air fryer, it seems to make things a bit more intuitive to operate. You have a lot of choices in how you want to cook with this one, air fry, broil, bake, roast, reheat, pizza etc.. The touchscreen operation takes some getting used to. For instance, there is no dedicated power button. Instead it shares the function with start. Finding a way to turn it off took some reading and experimentation. The writing is small so you have to really look at which cook cycle you have highlighted. The button to change the cook cycle is named “menu” so it’s not at all intuitive. With some trial and error and some practice, you can get used to the layout and how it works but the touchscreen is a fail for me. If this is the only means of interaction with the fryer, then it needs to be more straight forward and clear. For as large as the touchscreen is, the text should be a lot bigger. The only part that’s easy to see are the numbers in the center, everything else looks really small in comparison.
As you will expect, it can get pretty hot to the touch on the outside. We made the mistake of putting it in a corner on our counter top, it got very hot on the top and the sides and extremely hot at the back. Pulling it out from the wall when using it fixed that problem. It vents out the back and the air coming out gets very hot. You need to use caution when you cook to make sure it has adequate space around it. Another thing I was not happy about is the “plasticizer” warning. It doesn’t say what that is referring to but I can only infer they’re talking about the non-skid feet. They warn to place coasters or non-plastic mats under the air fryer to avoid it from discoloring or darkening your counter. If this is a big enough problem that they have a specific warning about it, maybe they should have engineered a solution before they sold it.
It does cook well and we do use it. The large size helps when cooking larger quantities of food. The non-stick, dishwasher safe basket parts clean up very easily and are easy to put together. The downfalls for me are the awkward touchscreen operation and the warning about the feet. The hot air vent is also a bit of a concern as it directly blows out super hot air at the back. All in all, not a bad fryer, but there is room for improvement.